Economic crisis and family difficulties: Two faces of the same coin?

Abstract

The media have promoted the idea that the economic crisis is strongly associated with a decline in mental health and with family important consequences. However, this seems to be a "truth" poorly studied in Portugal, despite being almost dogmatically assumed.
Thus, this study analyses a sample of people (N = 287) which perceives the economic crisis as its main family problem, according to the following variables: family difficulties (SCORE-15), quality of family life (QOL), marital adjustment (DAS), marital satisfaction
(EASAVIC), congruence (EC) and psychopathological symptoms (BSI). The results show that, although the crisis affects the quality of life, participants are resilient in terms of their family functioning, thus being conjugality the most affected relational area. Though they
are sadder and more worried, the participants show themselves emotionally healthy. This study has some limitations, such as the sample characteristics, but nevertheless it contributes to fill the gap in scientific evidence concerning the impact of the economic crisis on
the Portuguese families by means of a more psychosocial and less pathological approach.