The Resilience and Strengths of Low‐Income Families

This study examines indicators of family strength among a random sample of low-income households with children. The Family Strength Index assesses strength according to economic, problem-solving, communication, family cohesion, and social support assets. Variations in family strength are explained according to parental status and level of employment. Logistic regression is used to examine the contribution of assets to family outcomes. Findings indicate that relationship assets such as communication, problem solving, and social support predict positive outcomes for low-income families. Key Words: family, low-income, strength, resilience, policy, poverty. (Family Relations, 2004, 53, 159-167) Approximately one-third of American families are low income, using the U.S. Department of Agriculture's criteria that a family budget for basic household needs requires an annual gross income of approximately $30,000 for a family of four with children (Lino, 1998). The U.S. government's official statistics set the poverty line at $18,400 for a family of four, which includes about one in six U.S. children (U.S. Census Bureau, 2003). The official poverty rate is set at a much lower level to represent families in substantial need of public assistance. Setting a particular income level for a low-income designation is difficult given the complexities of cost-of-living variations and household size. Regardless of the definition, there are a substantial number of U.S. households living on marginal incomes that often are not able to meet basic needs for their family members. Families with low income often are viewed as households with substantial problems (Edin & Lein, 1997). Indeed, members of these families are overrepresented in statistics on crime (both as perpetrators and victims), school failure, adolescent pregnancies, family violence, and homelessness (e.g., Orthner & Randolph, 1999; Seccombe, 2002). These risk-related conditions are linked to the apparently weak economic context of the family. In other words, these risks are present because families do not have the economic resources needed to assure that their neighborhoods and communities can offer physical, economic, and emotional growth opportunities for all family members. Families with low incomes also may experience stress and conflict as a result of having to make difficult financial choices in their contexts of limited resources. Despite these pressures, many low-income families are able to achieve their objectives, meet basic needs, and overcome high odds for failure. In Edin and Lein's (1997) interviews with 379 low-income single mothers, they uncovered families living in extreme poverty and deprivation but also surprising resilience and creativity in building strategies to help their children overcome poor life conditions. Even with low incomes and the struggles of getting and keeping public assistance, a high proportion of economically disadvantaged families are able to avoid violence and crime involvement, keep children in school, live in their own homes, and engage their children in developmentally appropriate activities (Furstenberg, Cook, Eccles, Elder, & Sameroff, 1999). Such findings suggest that we must understand the sources of strength and resilience in these families, not just the problems and crises they face. In the past decade, researchers and practitioners from a variety of disciplines have made a concerted effort to define and understand family resilience and strengths. Though there are several definitions, Fraser, Richman, and Galinsky (1999) discussed three aspects of resilience that are common across definitions: (a) experiencing success despite exposure to risk; (b) adapting to risk in order to maintain competence in adverse conditions; and (c) having a positive adjustment to trauma or other negative experiences. Although much of the resilience research focuses on examining individual resilience, more recent studies (c. …