Economic Stress and Families

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Economic Stress and Families
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Videotape

• What were the stressors in each familys life?
• How did these families react?
• What resources did they use?

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Economic Stress

• Hardship, pressure, tension or strain experienced
  as a result of changes in an individuals or
  familys financial affairs.
• Other terms economic hardship, economic strain,
  economic pressure, or financial strain

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Why people experience economic stress

• Unable to meet financial obligations
• Income source is unstable
• Employment is unstable
• Earnings are inadequate to meet needs and desires
• The economy is bad
• Recession
• Unemployment rates
• Poverty rates

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Economic Stress and the Individual

• Economic stress leads to increased levels of
• Anger
• Hostility
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Somatic complaints
• Poorer physical health

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What eases damage from economic stress?

• Perception of situation
• Resources
• Individual
• Social
• Relational
• Psychological
• Material

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Ethnic Minority Groups

• Economic disadvantage
• Lower income
• Greater rates of poverty
• Higher rates of divorce and single parenthood
  among African Americans than whites
• Increasing divorce rate among Hispanics and
  higher percent female headed households than
  whites

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Ethnic Minority Groups cont

• Resources
• Extended kin
• Strong bonds with community/church
• In-kind assistance
• Sharing of resources

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Factors related to vulnerability to economic
stressors

• Marital status
• Gender
• Divorce

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Economic stress and marriage

• Money is source of conflict
• Shared control reduces conflict
• Financial management helps too
• Need to talk about it before marriage

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Economic stress and marriage

• Economic hardship impacts marital quality
  (happiness in marriage)
• More arguments about money
• Unemployed withdraw, lose self-esteem, become
  hostile

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Economic Stress and Family Relationships

• Greater economic stress, more family problems
• Parenting suffers
• Less warmth and support for children
• Psychological problems for children
• Depression, lower self-esteem, aggression
• Adolescent somatic complaints

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Nonnormative Economic Stress

• Unexpected financial hardship
• Downsizing and unemployment
• Lay-offs
• Furloughs
• Natural disasters

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Normative economic stressors

• Marriage
• Birth or adoption
• College
• Weddings
• Retirement

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Life Cycle Stages of Normative Economic Stress

• Debt accumulation
• Repaying debt and saving for retirement
• Living in retirement and planning for
  intergenerational transfers
• See your text Ch. 11 for details on these stages.

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Objectives

• Define economic stress.
• Describe the potential impact of financial stress
  on individuals and families.
• Explain the factors contribute to economic or
  financial stress.
• Identify the family life milestones that place
  normative stress on a familys financial
  situation.
• Differentiate between temporary and chronic
  stresses, giving examples of each.