Family functioning under COVID-19: An ecological perspective of family resilience of Hong Kong Chinese families.

Abstract

This study tested an ecological model of resilience that illustrated the influence of COVID‐19‐related stressors (i.e., social and health stressors) and various socio‐ecological factors at microsystem (i.e., parent–child conflicts and couple relationship) and exo‐system levels (i.e., the utilization of community resources) on family functioning among Chinese families during COVID‐19. An anonymous telephone survey was conducted using random sampling method. The sample contained 322 respondents who were co‐habiting with their child(ren) and their partner. Hierarchical regression analysis and structural equation modelling were used to examine the differential impacts of various levels of factors and the model that were proposed. Results showed that 13.2% of the households were categorized as at‐risk of poorer family functioning. Couple relationship and stressors significantly accounted for much of the variance in family functioning. While stressors had a significant direct effect on family functioning, couple relationship, but not parent–child conflicts or utilization of community resources, significantly mediated and moderated the impact of stressors on family functioning. The findings highlighted the impacts of both individual and ecological factors on family functioning under COVID‐19. Importantly, cultural and contextual factors should be considered when adopting ecological model of resilience to examine family functioning in diverse cultural groups.