Linking economic hardship to families' lives and children's psychological well-being

Abstract

This study is part of a longitudinal project to investigate the impact of economic crises on families and children from different cultural, social, and economic back grounds than those from industrialized countries in other studies. We collected data from 189 Albanian children and their parents. Albania is said to be Europe's poorest country, with a prevailing rural structure, where traditional life-styles are main tained even in urban areas. Contrary to our expectations, the impacts of the econ omic crisis are virtually the same as, for example, in the United States: the need to react to economic hardship by such adverse adjustments as restricting expenditure, borrowing, or selling property, leads to an increasing number of conflicts between family members. Not only marital harmony is affected negatively, but parents, parti cularly fathers, also react with increasing irritability towards their children. For daughters, not for sons, this harsh paternal attitude is associated with depression and antisocial behavior. Economic hardship thus affects the psychological well-being of children, particularly daughters, not directly, but indirectly, mediated by the beha vior of their parents.