Relational Resilience in Māori, Pacific, and European Sole Parent Families: From Theory and Research to Social Policy

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12219
• Author: Charles Waldegrave,Tafaoimalo Loudeen Parsons,Ginny Sullivan,Taimalieutu Kiwi Tamasese,Peter King,Maria Maniapoto
• Published date: 01 December 2016
• Date: 01 December 2016

Relational Resilience in Ma

¯ori, Pacific, and

European Sole Parent Families: From Theory and

Research to Social Policy

CHARLES WALDEGRAVE*

PETER KING

†

MARIA MANIAPOTO*

TAIMALIEUTU KIWI TAMASESE*

TAFAOIMALO LOUDEEN PARSONS*

GINNY SULLIVAN

1

This study reports findings and policy recommendations from a research project that

applied a relational resilience framework to a study of 60 sole parent families in New Zeal-

and, with approximately equal numbers of M

aori, Pacific, and European (White) partici-

pants. The sole parent families involved were already known to be resilient and the study

focused on identifying the relationships and strategies underlying the achievement and

maintenance of their resilience. The study was carried out to provide an evidence base for

the development and implementation of policies and interventions to both support sole par-

ent families who have achieved resilience and assist those who struggle to do so. The three

populations shared many similarities in their pathways to becoming sole parents and the

challenges they faced as sole parents. The coping strategies underlying the ir demonstrated

resilience were also broadly similar, but the ways in which they were carried out did vary

in a manner that particularly reflected cultural practices in terms of their reliance upon

extended family-based support or support from outside the family. The commonalities sup-

port the appropriateness of the common conceptual framework used, whereas the differ-

ences underline the importance of developing nuanced policy responses that take into

account cultural differences between the various populations to which policy initiatives are

directed.

Keywords: Resilience; Family Resilience; Relational Resilience; Sole Parent Families;

Culturally Diverse Families

Fam Proc 55:673–688, 2016

*Family Centre Social Policy Research Unit, Lower Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand.

†

Parallax Research, Lower Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Charles Waldegrave, Family Centre

Social Policy Research Unit, PO Box 31050, Lower Hutt 5010, Lower Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand.

E-mail: waldegrave.c@fc.org.nz.

1

Independent contractor.

This study was a component of a larger research program involving research providers in nine Govern-

ment Ministries and the Family Centre Social Policy Research Unit. The research program was funded by

the New Zealand Foundation for Research, Science and Technology. Study participant cultural groups

included: Māori, the indigenous people of Aotearoa, New Zealand; Pacific, people who have immigrated

from Pacific Island countries (largely Samoan, Tongan, Cook Island, Tokelauan, Niuean, and Fijian

groups, and from Tuvalu, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, and island states

of Micronesia); and Europeans, known in New Zealand by the M

aori word P

akeh

a.

673

Family Process, Vol. 55, No. 4, 2016 ©2016 Family Process Institute

doi: 10.1111/famp.12219

INTRODUCTION

New Zealand has one of the highest rates of one-parent families among economically

developed societies, with over one in four families with children headed by a sole par-

ent (Child Trends 2015; Statistics New Zealand 2014). Although many cope well, sole par-

ents are, on average, more vulnerable than partnered parents to poor outcomes across a

number of domains, including higher rates of hardship (Jensen, Krishnan, Hodgson,

Sathiyandra, & Templeton, 2006), poorer mental health (Sarfati & Scott, 2001), and

greater levels of exposure to violence and other forms of victimization (Morris & Reill y,

2003). Children growing up in sole parent families are also, on average, more vulnerable

to poor outcomes, such as lower educational attainment, higher incidence of ill health, and

a greater experience of poverty, partly due to the associated low family incomes (Mackay,

2005; Statistics New Zealand, 2012). Supporting people who experience period s of sole par-

enthood to achieve good social and economic outcomes is therefore critical.

In response to this issue a research program involving nine New Zealand Government

Ministries and a Non-Government Organisation (NGO) Family Centre Social Policy

Research Unit (FCSPRU) was established to develop new knowledge about sole parents

and their families by identifying the factors that enhance or impede successful social and

economic outcomes for the parents, their children, and the family as a whole. This study is

based on a qualitative study carried out by the FCSPRU (Waldegrave et al., 2011) as a

component of the larger study. The qualitative study reported in this article identified and

investigated resilience factors displayed by a sample of sole parents who had already been

identified as being resilient. The study’s orientation and focus was strengths based and

informed by a relational view of resilience that considers family resilience to be a property

of a collective, functioning family unit. From this perspective, family resilience is viewed,

not as an inherent, unexamined, attribute, but as a state that is achieved by a family’s col-

lective ability to access and mobilize internal and external resources that support their

endeavors and achievements in fields such as employment, income generation, education,

health, and social connectedness.

The rationale for carrying out this research with sole parent families known to be resili-

ent was that it would enable identification of the relationships and strategies underlying

the achievement and maintenance of resilience. The ultimate aim of this study, and the

program as a whole, is to provide an evidence base for the development and implementa-

tion of policies and interventions that will support those sole parent families that have

demonstrated resilience and assist struggling families to increase their capacity for resili-

ence.

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

The concept of resilience in relation to human development and well-being is widely

understood to refer to a dynamic process of adaptive functioning in the face of significant

adversity. It was introduced into human development research in response to growing evi-

dence of positive developmental outcomes being achieved despite significant adversity

(Schoon, 2006). The concept was originally applied to the individual person (Kalil, 2003)

and is well established in the field of developmental psychopathology.

The idea of family resilience has been developed and applied as a strength-based alter-

native to deficit-based models of family responses to stress and difficulty (Hawley &

DeHaan, 1996), and to pathologizing approaches common in family-focused therapy and

research (Walsh, 2002; Webber & Boromeo, 2005; Wolin & Wolin, 1993). In contemporary

research, the strengths-based approach emphasizes family strengths and resources when

studying negative factors, such as family problems and vulnerabilities (Silberberg, 2001).

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