Financial Strain & Family Resiliency

Job Loss and Families

Almost every region of the nation has experienced losses in a major employment sector. Examples of regional job losses in the past three decades include recessions and widespread worksite closings in Midwestern agriculture, North-central automobile production, Southeastern textile and garment manufacturing, and Northeastern and Californian high-tech industries. In Hawai‘i, employment in the sugar production industry decreased by 20% between 1990 and 1993 and by an additional 50% in 1994-95. Workforce displacement is clearly an issue of critical scope and significance. While there has been research which focuses on the effects of job loss on the displaced worker, little has been done to document how families of displaced workers deal with the stresses of job loss.

The Center on the Family conducted two studies to learn more about family coping patterns and to identify those characteristics in individuals, families, and communities that promote resilience and contribute to family well-being in the face of job loss. To gather such information, structured interviews and video-taped sessions were first conducted with 126 families through the Family Adaptation to Occupational Loss study, a project funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. At the time of the interviews, least one parent in each family was a current or former employee of one of the three sugar companies on the island of Hawai‘i. A smaller study, Effects of Worksite Closure on Children's Academic and Psychological Adjustment, funded by the U.S. Department of Education, was conducted about a year later. This second project included open-ended interviews with 20 of the families who participated in the Family Adaptation study, as well as focus-group interviews with teachers from the schools in the affected communities. The project aimed to identify changes in the neighborhoods and schools after the company closures, changes in the educational and career goals of children in these communities, and ideas about what schools and communities can do to help children cope during times of unemployment and to help youth prepare for a more secure future.

In addition to the studies, the Center on the Family collaborated with the UH Center for Oral History to further document the history of Hawai‘i's sugar plantation families. Interviews were conducted with members of 10 families, going back at least two generations. Interviewees spoke of the changes they had witnessed in plantation communities over the years, in some cases since the early part of the century, and how the closures had changed family and community structures. These oral history interviews have provided the context for a better understanding of study findings.

Project findings have been presented to community and professional audiences and to policy-makers on an ongoing basis through newsletters, fact sheets, technical reports, papers, and presentations. The knowledge gained from these studies was also used to produce Overcoming Job Loss: A Family Guide, offering information on common reactions to job loss and tips on handling finances and coping effectively during the crisis. Oral history transcripts were published and are available for review at the public libraries in East Hawai‘i County, the University of Hawai‘i's Hamilton Library, the Center on the Family, and the Center for Oral History.

With the studies completed, the goal now is to increase understanding of the difficulties of unemployment and to provide new insights about the strengths and strategies that families have used successfully to cope with this stressful event. Findings are expected to help professionals design more family-friendly public policies and better support programs.

List of Publications

• Family Adaptation to Occupational Loss Fact Sheet
• Job Loss and Families
• Overcoming Job Loss: A Family Guide

Public Assistance and Low-Income Families

The Center on the Family at the University of Hawai‘i is concerned about how families on welfare and other low-income families deal with the many financial pressures they face, especially during tough economic times. Among the most significant changes is the lifetime "cap" or limit on the length of time a family can receive welfare. Most welfare recipients are also now required to work a certain number of hours as part of the plan to move them off the welfare rolls and into the working world. However, it is very unlikely that welfare families entering the world of work will get competitive, higher-paying jobs. Instead, they will join the ranks of the working poor who, like welfare families, experience financial strain as part of daily life.

Through the Financial Strain and Family Resiliency project, the Center aims to increase awareness of the difficulties poor and low-income families face and to provide insight about the strengths and strategies that families use successfully to cope with their financial difficulties. This information is needed to help welfare recipients make successful transitions to the work world and maintain stable families. The knowledge gained from this project will be helpful in designing prevention and intervention efforts aimed at assisting poor and low-income families in various ways.

Five broad areas related to family functioning will be assessed using information collected during interviews and from school records. These are:

1. Financial strain--a family's experience with low income, such as little or no savings, difficulty paying bills, and difficulty paying for basic needs like food, clothing, and shelter. Financial strain can trigger difficulty in family well-being.
2. Personal qualities--personal attitudes, spirituality, and methods of coping with problems.
3. Family processes--communication styles that are typical of families, family problem-solving and decision-making strategies, and family rules and activities.
4. Social network support--support one receives from extended family and friends, such as money or goods, along with emotional support and advice.
5. Current adjustment--family members' physical and emotional health and satisfaction with family life. For children, this also includes social behavior and academic adjustment.

A total of 420 families receiving public assistance will be interviewed. Half of the families will be receiving Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) or Temporary Assistance to Other Needy Families (TAONF), the assistance programs known as welfare. The other half will be receiving Food Stamps. The targets of the study include the father or father figure if there is one in the home, the mother or mother figure if there is one in the home, and one child 10 to 16 years of age.

The Financial Strain and Family Resiliency project will help us understand the following:

• How individual family members are affected by financial strain
• What strengths families use to cope with financial difficulty
• What happens to families when they transition off welfare into the working world

For more information, contact

Ivette Rodriguez Stern, Project Coordinator, at istern@hawaii.edu