Abstract

REYES ROJAS, Mónica et al. Resilience factors and familiar well-being in Colombian families. Interdisciplinaria [online]. 2021, vol.38, n.3, pp.117-138. ISSN 1668-7027.  http://dx.doi.org/10.16888/interd.2021.38.3.7.

Currently, modern families are coping with different stressful situations. The family studies are focused on the conceptual perspective, political perspective and methodological topic and they leave aside the familiar dynamics and functioning. This paper was interested in describing and comparing indicators of family resilience and family welfare of 442 Colombian families. This study had three hypotheses: The first one is focused on differences in well-being family dimension per location; the second hypothesis was focused on significant differences in family resilience per location, and the third one was interested in significant relations in family resilience and family well-being.

The theoretical support to this research is the McCubbin and Patterson’s resilience model called Double ABCX and Family Adaptation and Adjust Response Model by Patterson. The family well-being is considered a result of internal family functioning and is measured by the family member perception about the concern about health problems, fears, anger and sadness. Family resilience is understood as the capacity to recover from adversity. This capacity strengthens families and improves their resources. In this theoretic resilience approach the resilience is a dynamic result to the adaptation phase and the family well-being is the final adjustment.

The design was cross-sectional analytical with a convenience sample. The families were interviewed in their homes, from each family both parents and a child between 9 and 17 years old participated. They are located geographically in Bogotá (n = 196), Santa Marta (n = 81) and Cali-Palmira (n = 145). Families completed the Family Member Well-being Index (FMWB) and the Family Regeneration and Adaptation Index (FIRA-G) to assess resilience. Families residing in Bogotá showed significant differences with those of Cali-Palmira in the dimension of family well-being, family stress and support from friends and family. While families located in Santa Marta showed differences with respect to the families located in Cali-Palmira in family stress and in community and social support. The father correlations between the family resilience index and the well-being family index is strong and inverse with the family stress and the family well-being summarized. The mother well-being family perception is significant associated with family resilience, and these correlations was strongest with family well-being summarized. The family stress index, strains and distress exposed moderate and inverse relations with the positive resilience family summarized.

The discussion deals with family resilience as a product of the dynamic interaction in the hole family system and is oriented to the fact that the presence of support from family and friends reduces the burden of family stress, promotes support in the face of crisis and, in general, improves the well-being and family adaptation. In general, the differences reflect varied resilience trajectories that depend on the challenges posed by the close context of the city where they live. An approach to this result leads us to think as a hypothesis not yet widely explored, in the mobility factor of cities, which limits contact with close family networks. In big cities like Bogotá, its internal mobility compromises the times and spaces of daily life, and thus allows or prevents families from organizing their relationships in the different areas of their social life. Resilience occurs through positive adaptive family resources that included social support and family coherence and allow families to reduce stress and meet the demands of the environment. On the other hand, the presence of the two parents in families without clinical indicators shows that the burden of shared stress helps family resilience, which is also fed by the presence of external aids to the family nucleus, such as the support of the community, family and friends.

Keywords : family resilience; family well-being; family functioning; family relationships; family stress; social support.

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