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Families First EdmontonFamily Characteristics,

Family Functioning & Parental Wellbeing:Preliminary Analyses

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Outline

FFE family characteristics

FFE family functioning

FFE parental mental and physical health

Implications

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Family Characteristics

What are FFE families like?

How similar/different are they from other Alberta families? ethnic origin size composition

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Parents’ Ethnic Origin

45%

16 %

6%

Canadian-born

Foreign-born

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Family Size and Composition

61% are headed by a lone parent (39% have a co parent) 84% of the time the co-parent is a spouse or common-law partner

92% of the families are made up of two generations 8% have three generations and less than a percent have four

generations

range from 2 to 13 members average of 3.7 family

members range from 1 to 8 children average of 2.1 children

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Family Functioning

How well are FFE families functioning?

Is the level of family functioning related to family characteristics?

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Measuring Family Functioning

4 items from the General Functioning Scale of the McMaster Family Assessment Device (FAD) We can express our feelings to each other. There are lots of bad feelings in the family. We feel accepted for what we are. We don’t get along well together.

Parents were asked “How well does each statement describe your family as a whole—your family consisting of the family members living in this household?”; they responded along a 4 point rating scale (ranging from “not at all well” to “very well”) .

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Two ways to look at how FFE families are functioning

1. Calculate the average score for our FFE sample and compare our FFE sample average to general population norms.

2. Determine the number/percentage of families whose scores fall above the cut-off for healthy family functioning, that is, determine the percentage of families scoring in the unhealthy family functioning range.

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FFE Family Functioning

1. Average Level of Family Functioning FFE families’ look very similar to the general population

when average level of family functioning for the whole FFE sample is compared to the average level of family functioning in the general population. FFE family average = 1.77 General population average = 1.84

2. Percentage of Families Falling in the Unhealthy Range of Functioning (2.00 +)

53% of FFE families fall in the unhealthy range

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FFE Family Functioning

Average FAD Score

Percent of

Sample

53%unhealthy range

47%healthy range

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Is the level of family functioning related to family characteristics?

No significant differences between the family functioning of lone-parent families and co-parent families.

Significant differences by ethnic origin.

60%

59%

59%

40%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Refugee

Immigrant

Aboriginal

Non-Aboriginal

Healthy

Unhealthy

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Poorer Family Functioningin Foreign-Born and Aboriginal Families

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Parental Health

What is the health of FFE parents? How are FFE parents functioning in terms of their

mental and physical health?

Is parental health related to family characteristics? Is parental mental and physical health related to

gender, family composition, ethnic origin?

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Measuring Parental Mental Health

Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90):Assesses the intensity of an individual’s psychological distress

90 physical and psychological symptoms respondents rate severity of symptoms (past 7 days)

5 point scale: 0 = “not at all” to 4 = “extremely” Global Symptom Index and 9 subscales:

1. anxiety 6. psychoticism 2. hostility 7. somatic complaints3. phobia 8. interpersonal sensitivity4. depression 9. obsessive-compulsive5. paranoia

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Parental Mental Health

Overall FFE parents report significantly poorer mental health than adults in the general population.

Mothers report poorer mental health than fathers Lone parents report poorer mental heath than those

with a co-parentThose with adolescent children report poorer mental

health than those with infants, preschoolers, or school-age

Generally Canadian-born report poorer mental health than foreign-born

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Parental Mental Health

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Measuring Parental Physical Health

Parents were asked “in general, would your say your health is”, and responded by indicating that their health fell into one of the following 5 categories:

Poor Fair Good Very good Excellent

This single item has been found to be a valid and reliable measure of physical health and to predict morbidity and mortality.

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Parental Physical Health

Overall FFE parents report poorer physical health than other Albertans

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Parental Physical Health

FFE parents’ physical health is related to a number of factors:

Gender: women report poorer health

Co-parent status: lone parents report poorer health than those with a co-parent

Age of child(ren): parents with adolescent children report poorer health than those with infants, preschool, and school age children

Ethnic origin: Canadian-born parents report poorer health than foreign-born parents

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Parental Self-Reported Physical Health

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Key Points Some differences between FFE families and other Alberta families in

terms of size and composition: Slightly larger (3.7 for FFE vs 3.1 for Alberta) More likely to be Aboriginal or foreign born (54% of FFE families vs

22% of Alberta) More likely to be headed by a lone parent (61% FFE vs 24% Alberta)

Half of FFE families fall in the unhealthy range of family functioning Canadian-born non-Aboriginal families are more likely to be in the

healthy family functioning range; Aboriginal and foreign-born are more likely to be in the unhealthy range

FFE parents report poorer mental and physical health than adults in the general population Mental and physical health of parents are related to a number of

parent and family characteristics (e.g., gender, co-parenting status, age of children, and ethnic origin)

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Implications

Similarities and differences in family characteristics, family functioning, and parental health: implications for programming

The compromised health of parents in FFE families: interferes with parenting and places children at

risk for poor development limits parents’ abilities to be fully engaged

citizens

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Partners

Alberta Employment and Immigration (Co-Lead) City of Edmonton Community Services (Co-Lead)

• Alberta Children’s Services• Alberta Health Services• Edmonton Aboriginal Urban Affairs Committee• Edmonton Community Foundation• Edmonton & Area Child and Family Services Authority—Region 6• Quality of Life Commission• United Way of the Alberta Capital Region• University of Alberta - Community-University Partnership for the

Study of Children, Youth, and Families

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Acknowledgement

AHFMRAlberta Heritage Foundation of Medical Research