The Relationships Between Family Financial Stress, Mental Health Problems, Child Rearing Practice, and School Involvement Among Taiwanese Parents with School-Aged Children
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wei2014 - p. 1145
Although it is well established that family financial stress is associated with multiple negative parental outcomes, including mental health problems, poor parenting practice, and a lack of involvement in their children’s educational process, evidence regarding the specific paths and underlying mediating processes among these variables is less conclusive.
wei2014 - p. 1146
Another issue is the applicability of previous western findings on the relationships among family financial stress, mental health problems, child rearing practice, and school involvement in an Asian context like Taiwan. While heavily relying on export oriented industrialization strategies, the economy of Taiwan has been deeply influenced by the world financial crisis in recent years. Considering significant cultural differences, little is known about how family financial stress may actually affect Taiwanese parents’ mental health, child rearing practice, and involvement in school, which is a significant knowledge gap.
wei2014 - p. 1147
Although the effect of family financial stress on parents’ mental health, child rearing behavior, and parental school involvement has been well established, multiple possibilities exist regarding the mechanisms and pathways among these variables. To be sure, mental health problems are themselves a common factor associated with the risk of inadequate child rearing practice.
wei2014 - p. 1147
Given the mounting evidence regarding the close association among family financial stress, parental mental health problems, and child rearing practices, models have been formulated to clarify their interrelationships.
wei2014 - p. 1147
According to the family stress model proposed by Conger and others (2002), economic hardship intensifies financial pressures on the family, which in turn elevates the emotional distress of parents and results in marital conflict and inadequate parenting practices. Such maltreatment eventually disrupts children’s development and heightens their risk of emotional maladjustment and behavioral problems (Conger et al. 2002).
wei2014 - p. 1148
The data of the present analysis was collected as part of a larger survey project. The respondents were recruited from grades 1 to 4 of one elementary school in a rural area of Taiwan. Parental questionnaires were distributed to students who were expected to take them home and give them to their parents.
wei2014 - p. 1148
The latent variable of financial stress comprised three indicators. They were part of a need assessment battery, and the respondents were asked to indicate the areas that they believed needed to be improved. These items assessed financial concerns of the parents. The first item was: ‘‘My household is poor and in need of money’’ (answers ranged from 4 = ‘‘strongly agree’’ to 1 = ‘‘strongly disagree’’). The second item was ‘‘I hope to pay lower medical fees for my children when they are sick or injured’’. The third item was ‘‘I hope the tuition of my children to be reduced’’. The Cronbach’s alpha was 0.89, reflecting good internal consistency.
wei2014 - p. 1148
The respondent’s mental health problems were assessed using the Brief Symptom Rating Scale (BSRS) (Lee et al. 1990). The BSRS is a Chinese questionnaire that has been developed and validated by local psychiatrists to screen individuals for common mental-health problems. The respondents reported their conditions during the previous week on a 5-point scale (from 1 = not at all to 5 = very severe). The present study used three subscales from the BSRS. The subscale of somatic symptoms consists of 5 items, including ‘‘muscles feel sore’’, ‘‘feel heart or chest pain’’, and ‘‘feel it is hard to breathe’’. The depression subscale had 7 items, including ‘‘have lost interest in daily activities’’, ‘‘feel I am worthless’’, and ‘‘have thoughts of committing suicide.’’ A 4-item subscale of the BSRS was utilized to evaluate the respondent’s hostility, which included ‘‘lose temper easily and am unable to control it’’, ‘‘have the urge to beat or hurt someone’’, ‘‘often feel upset or angry’’, and ‘‘have the urge to break or smash things’’. The Cronbach’s alphas of the three subscales were 0.79, 0.86 and 0.75, respectively for the current sample.
wei2014 - p. 1148
The questionnaire comprised three items asking the parents about their treatment of their own children: ‘‘I provide them with necessary expenses’’, ‘‘I do housework (cleaning, cooking, laundry shopping, etc.) for them’’, and ‘‘I listen to their thoughts and distress’’. These items assessed the common dimensions of child rearing, and the Cronbach’s alpha of the three items was 0.63.
wei2014 - p. 1148
The home-school interaction of the parents was assessed by three items: ‘‘You actively contact school teachers to know about the performance of your children at school’’, ‘‘You participate in school activities and groups’’, and ‘‘You discuss school affairs with the parents of other students’’. The Cronbach’s alpha of the three items was 0.74.
wei2014 - p. 1150
In the final model, the paths from mental health problems to child rearing and parental school involvement were removed due to their non-significance. Family stress was expected to directly contribute to increased mental health problems, lower child rearing effort, and decreased involvement in school affairs. The results showed a good fit (v2 1⁄4 145:54, df = 51, p = 0.00, RMSEA = 0.064, NFI = 0.94, CFI = 0.96, GFI = 0.95, AGFI = 0.92). Financial stress was positively and significantly associated with mental health problems (b = 0.33, t = 6.00, p \ 0.05), child rearing practice (b = -0.15, t = -2.50, p \ 0.05), and school involvement (b = -0.14, t = -2.45, p \ 0.05) (see Fig. 2).