Longitudinal Relationship between Family Resilience and Parent' Subjective Well-Being

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to examine the relationship
between different family resilience dimensions (i.e., family
problem solving, utilising social and economic resources,
and family spirituality) and subjective well-being (SWB) of
mothers and fathers. The data was collected from 848 pairs
of mothers and fathers of elementary school-aged children,
as a part of the three-year longitudinal project. Using paper-
-pencil questionnaires, mothers and fathers assessed family
resilience, their life satisfaction and happiness in two study
waves. The results of structural equation modelling showed
that, among family resilience dimensions, only family
problem solving was reliably longitudinally associated with
greater SWB in both parents two years later. Other family
resilience dimensions did not contribute significantly to either
parent's SWB, after controlling for their SWB measured in the
first wave of the study. Family resilience explained only a
small portion of the variance in both mothers' and fathers'
SWB, indicating that although family resilience does play a
role in the parents' SWB, there are other individual and
family factors that should be considered.