Economic Distress and Family Relations: A Review of the Eighties
Thoughts
Connects with: @elder1988
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voydanoff1990 - p. 1101
Providing the basic means of subsistence to its members is one of the major functions of the family. In addition, a family’s standard of living is dependent on the economic activities of its members. Family economic well-being is tied to (a) the number of earners and amount of income brought into the family, (b) unpaid contributions to the family economy, and (c) the needs of the family as determined by family size and composition.
voydanoff1990 - p. 1101
The economic value of family work is difficult to assess, since it is not included in traditional measures of economic production. Two measurement approaches include (a) replacement costs, the amount it would cost to hire someone to do the work, and (b) opportunity costs, the amount of income women would earn if they did not stay home to do family work.
voydanoff1990 - p. 1102
Family size and composition also influence the level of family economic well-being by determining the number of dependents in relation to the number of potential earners available to the family.
voydanoff1990 - p. 1102
Economic difficulties encountered by families derive from two sources: (a) constraints imposed by the structure of the labor force and earnings patterns and (b) characteristics of the family and its members, such as family size and composition and the number of earners.
voydanoff1990 - p. 1103
Economic distress is related to both the likelihood and consequences of divorce. Women with high earnings and men experiencing unstable employment and earnings are more likely to divorce (see Teachman, Polonko, and Scanzoni, 1987, for a review), and women’s income declines substantially following divorce-30% on average in the first year (Hoffman and Duncan, 1988).
voydanoff1990 - p. 1103
The large-scale changes just discussed become sources of economic distress on the individual and family level by creating problems in the performance of the worker-earner role.
voydanoff1990 - p. 1103
Economic distress is a concept referring to aspects of economic life that are potential stressors for individuals and families.
Note: definition
voydanoff1990 - p. 1103
Employment instability includes several other important dimensions: duration of periods of unemployment, number of periods of employment and unemployment, extent of underemployment and downward mobility, inability of youth to gain entry-level positions, and forced early retirement.
voydanoff1990 - p. 1104
Structural changes in the economy are associated with permanent job displacement due to plant closings and employment cutbacks.
voydanoff1990 - p. 1104
Employment uncertainty refers to an individual’s assessment of prospects for the future regarding the onset of, duration of, and recovery from unemployment.
voydanoff1990 - p. 1104
The third component of economic distress, economic deprivation, incorporates two aspects: (a) the inability to meet current financial needs and (b) the loss of financial resources and income over a period of time
voydanoff1990 - p. 1105
Economic strain is an evaluation of current financial status such as perceived financial adequacy, financial concerns and worries, adjustments to changes in one’s financial situation, and one’s projected financial situation.