Exploring the Relationship Between Assets and Family Stress Among Low‐Income Families

• Author: Chang‐Keun Han,David W. Rothwell
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3729.2010.00611.x
• Published date: 01 October 2010
• Date: 01 October 2010

DAVID W. ROTHWELL McGill University School of Social Work

CHANG-KEUN HAN National University of Singapore*

Exploring the Relationship Between Assets

and Family Stress Among Low-Income Families

The ‘‘hard times’’ resulting from the 2008

Great Recession represent an opportunity to re-

examine the theoretical framework for how fam-

ilies use economic resources to manage stress.

M. Sherraden’s (1991) theory of assets and

H. I. McCubbin and J. Patterson’s (1983) fam-

ily adjustment and adaptation response model

informed this study of how assets relate to fam-

ily demands among 839 low-income families.

Structural equation modeling found that assets

were directly related to a reduced sense of family

demands and that assets were indirectly related

to demands via economically stressful events.

Findings suggest that social welfare policies

that promote assets among low-income families

may positively influence family relations. Future

family research would benefit from measuring

assets as economic resources and testing how

assets affect family functioning.

The most recent economic recession has intro-

duced stress to families in an enormous mag-

nitude and scope. These ‘‘hard times’’ repre-

sent an opportunity to re-examine theoretical

McGill University School of Social Work, 3506 University

Street, Suite 300, Montreal, Quebec H3A 2A7, Canada

(swkdwr@nus.edu.sg).

*Department of Social Work, National University of

Singapore, Block AS3, Level 4, 3 Arts Link, Singapore

117570, Singapore (swkhck@nus.edu.sg).

Key Words: assets, family, finances, low income, strain,

stress.

frameworks of how families use economic

resources to manage stress. Within the field

of applied family studies and the disciplines

that intervene at the family level (e.g., counsel-

ing, psychology, social work, and sociology),

economic resources are recognized to play an

important role in the family functioning. Most

often in research, economic resources are opera-

tionalized as income or socioeconomic status. In

addition, importantly for low-income families,

eligibility for social welfare programs is based

on family size-adjusted income guidelines.

The income-focused understanding of eco-

nomic resources has been criticized for various

reasons. In the late 1980s to early 1990s, a group

of scholars began to articulate the importance of

asset holding as a resource for capacity build-

ing. Sherraden (1991) introduced a theory of

social welfare on the basis of the salutary effects

of holding assets and proposed universal and

lifelong savings accounts for every American.

This theory of social welfare hinges on the idea

that assets provide benefits to individuals, fami-

lies, and communities that are independent from

income.

Most families have been adversely affected

in one way or another by the current economic

recession; however, those with low incomes

have been subject to heightened strain. Low-

income families are especially vulnerable during

these times because small fluctuations in income

can create large problems within the family,

and low-income families have less access to

396 Family Relations 59 (October 2010): 396 – 407

DOI:10.1111/j.1741-3729.2010.00611.x