Although the number of employees on overseas assignments accompanied by their families has increased steadily, little is known about the effects of this experience on family functioning. Japanese families on family-accompanied assignments living in Hong Kong were compared with families living in Japan (consisting of 135 and 248 paired partners, respectively). Applying an ecological framework, family functioning was examined using the Feetham Family Functioning Survey–Japanese (FFFS-J). Japanese wives living in Hong Kong rated family functioning lower, particularly in the area of “relationship between family and family members.” Between paired marital partners living in Hong Kong, the level of satisfaction in the area of “relationship between family and society” was significantly lower for wives than for husbands. This study provides application of the family ecological framework in families in a multicultural environment and identifies potential areas for family assessment and intervention that may of interest to health care professionals who care for families living away from their home countries.
AlbrightS.ChuA.AustinL.WilsonC.deK. (1993). Moving and living abroad: A complete handbook for families (Rev. ed.). New York, NY: Hippocrene.
2.
AndrewsM. P.BubolzM. M.PaolucciB. (1980). An ecological approach to study of the family. Marriage and Family Review, 3(1-2), 29-49. doi:10.1300/J002v03n01_0210.1300/J002v03n01_02
3.
BeckC. T. (1993). Qualitative research: The evaluation of its credibility, fittingness, and auditability. Western Journal of Nursing Research, 15, 263-266. doi:10.1177/01939459930150021210.1177/019394599301500212
4.
BerelsonB. (1952). Content analysis in communication research. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.
5.
BonneO.LahatS.KfirR.BerryE.KatzM.BacharE. (2003). Parent–daughter discrepancies in perception of family function in bulimia nervosa. Psychiatry, 66, 244-254. doi:10.1521/psyc.66.3.244.2515410.1521/psyc.66.3.244.25154
6.
BroderickC. B. (1993). Understanding family process: Basics of family systems theory. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
7.
BronfenbrennerU. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
8.
BronfenbrennerU. (1989). Ecological systems theory. Annals of Child Development, 6, 187-249.
9.
CaligiuriP. M.HylandM. M.JoshiA.BrossA. S. (1998). Testing a theoretical model for examining the relationship between family adjustment and expatriates’ work adjustment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 83, 598-614. doi:10.1037/0021–9010.83.4.59810.1037/0021–9010.83.4.598
10.
CardozoB. L.HoltzT. H.KaiserR.GotwayC. A.GhitisF.ToomeyE.SalamaP. (2005). The mental health of expatriate and Kosovar Albanian humanitarian aid workers. Disasters, 29(2), 152-170. doi:10.1111/j.0361–3666.2005.00278.x10.1111/j.0361–3666.2005.00278.x
11.
CarrollR. M.ShepardM. P.MahonM. M.DeatrickJ. A.OrsiA. J.MoriartyH. J.FeethamS. L. (1999). Parent–teen worry about the teen contracting AIDS. Western Journal of Nursing Research, 21(2), 168-181. doi:10.1177/01939459990210020510.1177/019394599902100205
12.
ConstableN. (1997). Maid to order in Hong Kong: Stories of Filipina workers. New York, NY: Cornell University Press.
13.
Consular and Migration Policy Division, Consular Affairs Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. (2011). Annual report of statistics on Japanese nationals overseas 2010. Tokyo, Japan: National Printing Bureau.
14.
DillmanD. A. (2007). Mail and internet surveys: The tailored design method (2nd ed.). New York, NY: John Wiley.
15.
FeethamS. L.PerkinsM.CarrollR. (1993). Exploratory analysis: A technique for analysis of dyadic data in research of families. In FeethamS.MeisterS.BellJ.GillissC. (Eds.), Nursing of families: Theory/research/education/practice (pp. 99-107). Newbury Park, CA: SAGE.
GarrettL. H. (2005). Interdisciplinary practice, education, and research: The expanding role of the occupational health nurse. AAOHN Journal, 53(4), 159-165.
18.
Grant-ValloneE. J.EnsherE. A. (2001). An examination of work and personal life conflict, organizational support, and employee health among international expatriates. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 25, 261-278. doi:10.1016/S0147–1767(01)00003–710.1016/S0147–1767(01)00003–7
19.
HansonS. M. H. (2005). Family health care nursing: An introduction. In HansonS. M. H.Gedaly-DuffV.KaakinenJ. R. (Eds.), Family health care nursing: Theory, practice and research (3rd ed., pp. 3-37). Philadelphia, PA: F. A. Davis.
20.
HohashiN.HondaJ.HirataniY.FeethamS. L. (2008). A method for assessment of family functioning: A guide to the Japanese-language version I of the FFFS. Tokyo, Japan: Editex.
21.
HohashiN.HondaJ.KongS. K. (2008). Validity and reliability of the Chinese version of the Feetham Family Functioning Survey (FFFS). Journal of Family Nursing, 14(2), 201-223. doi:10.1177/107484070831596710.1177/1074840708315967
22.
HohashiN.KoyamaC. (2004). A Japan–U.S. comparison of family functions from the perspective of mothers utilizing “family houses”: Cross-cultural research using the Feetham Family Functioning Survey. Japanese Journal of Research in Family Nursing, 10(1), 21-31.
23.
HohashiN.MaedaM.SugishitaC. (2000). Development of the Japanese-language Feetham Family Functioning Survey (FFFS) and evaluation of its effectiveness. Japanese Journal of Research in Family Nursing, 6(1), 2-10.
24.
HondaJ.HohashiN. (2007). An ethnographic study on family functions of child-rearing households in Hong Kong: With a focus on the implementation of family functions. Japanese Journal of Research in Family Nursing, 13(1), 45-52.
25.
KamoshitaK.KatoM.InamuraH. (1997). An analysis of telephone health counseling for Japanese employees and their families abroad, “Japan health care line (overseas).”Japanese Journal of Public Health, 44, 450-463.
26.
KnaflG. J.KnaflK. A.McCorkleR. (2005). Mixed models incorporating intra-familial correlation through spatial autoregression. Research in Nursing and Health, 28, 348-356. doi:10.1002/nur.2008210.1002/nur.20082
27.
LeiL.LiangY. X.KriegerG. R. (2004). Stress in expatriates. Clinics in Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 4(1), 221-229. doi:10.1016/j.coem.2003.12.00110.1016/j.coem.2003.12.001
28.
Mercer Global Information Services. (2004). Worldwide Cost of Living Survey 2004: City rankings. Geneva, Switzerland: Mercer Human Resource Consulting.
29.
NakaneC. (1970). Japanese society. London, UK: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
30.
OzekiN. (2008). Transcultural stress factors of Japanese mothers living in the United Kingdom. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 19(1), 47-54. doi:10.1177/104365960730913710.1177/1043659607309137
31.
PlessI. B.SatterwhiteB. (1973). A measure of family functioning and its application. Social Science & Medicine, 7, 613-621. doi:10.1016/0037–7856(73)90029–210.1016/0037–7856(73)90029–2
32.
RobertsC. S.FeethamS. L. (1982). Assessing family functioning across three areas of relationships. Nursing Research, 31(4), 231-235.
33.
RodriguesN.PattersonJ. M. (2007). Impact of severity of a child’s chronic condition on the functioning of two-parent families. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 32, 417-426. doi:10.1093/jpepsy/js103110.1093/jpepsy/js1031
34.
SaphireL. S.DoranB. (1996). International travel preparedness: A guideline for occupational health professionals. AAOHN Journal, 44, 123-128.
35.
SawinK. J.HarriganM. P. (1995). Well-established self-report instruments: Feetham Family Functioning Survey (FFFS). In WoogP. (Ed.), Measures of family functioning for research and practice (pp. 42-49). New York, NY: Springer.
36.
SchusterE. A. (1990). Earth caring. Advances in Nursing Science, 13(1), 25-30.
37.
ScottW. A. (1955). Reliability of content analysis: The case of nominal scale coding. Public Opinion Quarterly, 19, 321-325. doi:10.1086/26657710.1086/266577
38.
SelmerJ. (2005). Is bigger better? Size of the location and expatriate adjustment in China. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 16, 1228-1242. doi:10.1080/0958519050014417810.1080/09585190500144178
39.
ShafferM. A.HarrisonD. A. (2001). Forgotten partners of international assignments: Development and test of a model of spouse adjustment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86, 238-254. doi:10.1037/0021–9010.86.2.23810.1037/0021–9010.86.2.238
40.
TsutsumiA.IzutsuT.SakamiS.MiyazakiT.WakaiS.KawamuraN. (2005). Long-term influence of working abroad on returnees’ mental health. Journal of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health, 125(6), 281-286. doi:10.1177/14664240051250061010.1177/146642400512500610
41.
TudgeJ. R. H.MokrovaI.HatfieldB. E.KarnikR. B. (2009). Uses and misuses of Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological theory of human development. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 1(4), 198-210. doi:10.1111/j.1756–2589.2009.00026.x10.1111/j.1756–2589.2009.00026.x
42.
Van der ZeeK. I.AliA. J.SalomeE. (2005). Role interference and subjective well-being among expatriate families. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 14, 239-262. doi:10.1080/1359432050014625010.1080/13594320500146250
43.
von BertalanffyL. (1968). General system theory: Foundations, development, applications. New York, NY: George Braziller.
44.
World Health Organization. (1974). Community health nursing: Report of a WHO expert committee (Technical Report Series No. 558). Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization.
45.
WrightL. M.LeaheyM. (2009). Nurses and families: A guide to family assessment and intervention. Philadelphia, PA: F. A. Davis.
