Familism Is Associated With Psychological Well-Being and Physical Health

Abstract

Familism is a core Latino value that emphasizes close family relationships and prioritizing of family before the self. Familism has implications for well-being and health, but it is not clear whether these values are generally beneficial or beneficial under stress. We examined whether the associations of familism with well-being/health were consistent with a main effect or stress-buffering model in Latinos and non-Latinos. Latino (n = 171), European (n = 225), and East Asian Americans (n = 415) completed measures of familism, stress, well-being, and health. In terms of general benefits, familism was negatively associated with loneliness, depression, and physical symptoms. In terms of stress-buffering benefits, the combination of high familism with high stress was associated with higher self-esteem and subjective health than the combination of low familism with high stress. These patterns were consistent across groups, suggesting that familism can be beneficial for Latinos and non-Latinos.

Cultural neurobiology and the family: Evidence from the daily lives of Latino adolescents

“…While most research has focused on understanding how familism values can confer protection for Latino youth in the face of risk (e.g., cultural protection or stress-buffering; Stein et al, 2014), such values have also been directly associated with well-being and better physical health (e.g., promotive factors; Corona, Campos, & Chen, 2017). For example, Schwartz et al (2010) found that prioritizing the family was highly correlated with self-esteem, life satisfaction, and overall well-being in a diverse sample of college students.…”

“…Beyond indices of socioemotional and mental health, emerging research has also identified that familism values may promote better physical health and use of physician care in samples of Latino adolescents and young adults (Corona, Campos, et al, 2017; Updegraff et al, 2017). However, very little research has examined the potential pathways through which familism values may be associated with both physical and mental health, particularly during adolescence.…”

Culture and Family Process: Measures of Familism for Filipino and Korean American Parents

“…F amilism, characterized by an emphasis on collective needs, interdependency, and conformity, along with a deeply ingrained sense of obligation and orientation to the family, has received increasing scholarly attention as it has been shown to serve as a protective factor for certain subpopulations of youth (see, e.g., Corona, Campos, & Chen, 2017;German, Gonzales, & Dumka, 2009). While familism is recognized as a hallmark of Hispanic culture (see, e.g., Schaefer, 2008, Schwartz, 2007Killoren et al, 2015), with several scales validated for various Latino populations (Lugo-Steidel & Contreras, 2003), familism's central role among other collectivist ethnic groups has also been noted (Schwartz, 2007).…”

Familism Scale: Confirmatory Factor Analysis in a Sample of Caregivers of Older Adults

“…In Hispanic and Latin-American cultures, familism is considered a crucial protective factor for physical and psychological well-being, especially during periods of crisis and psychological distress (Campos, Ullman, Aguilera, & Schetter, 2014;Valdivieso-Mora, Peet, Garnier-Villarreal, Salazar-Villanea, & Johnson, 2016). Familism is associated with frequency of self-care behavior, treatment adherence, better disease management, practice of physical exercise and academic performance (Corona, Campos, & Chen, 2017;Halgunseth et al, 2017;Perez & Cruess, 2014). In addition, familism was positively associated with mental health and general life satisfaction (Fuller-Iglesias & Antonucci, 2016;Marsiglia, Booth, Baldwin, & Ayers, 2013;Ojeda & Piña-Watson, 2013).…”

“…However, other research examining the influence of familism on psychological well-being has produced inconsistent results. For instance, familism has been described as both a risk factor (Valdivieso-Mora et al, 2016) and a protective factor (Corona et al, 2017) for depression. Others have found that familism confers a motivation for providing care, acceptance of the caregiving role, and perception of positive caregiving experiences (Mendez-Luck et al, 2016).…”