Economic strain and parental coping – evidence from Finland

ABSTRACT

The international financial crisis 2008–2009 led to a period of economic recession in Europe, and in Finland this lasted until around 2016–2017. The recession had a number of negative outcomes, such as higher unemployment, higher poverty rates, and an overall higher economic strain for households with children. The aim of this article is to analyse the association between economic strain and parental coping in a Finnish context, but also to assess the relevance of other social and health-related factors in explaining parental coping experiences. We used cross-sectional survey data on parents collected in 2012 by the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) in Finland. The findings show economic strain to have an undermining influence on parental coping, but they also point at the significance of sufficient support and work/family reconciliation for parents coping. The results have implications both for social work practices and for policy, both in terms of tailoring adequate social support and services for parents as well as enhancing work/family reconciliation.

TIIVISTELMÄ

Kansainvälinen taloudellinen kriisi vuosina 2008–2009 johti Euroopassa vuosien lamaan, joka Suomessa jatkui vuosiin 2016–2017 saakka. Tällä oli lukuisia negatiivisia seurauksia, kuten lisääntynyttä työttömyyttä ja köyhyyttä sekä kokonaisvaltaista taloudellista ahdinkoa lapsiperheille. Tämän artikkelin tarkoituksena on tarkastella suomalaisten lapsiperheiden kokeman taloudellisen ahdingon merkitystä vanhempien selviytymisvoimavaroille. Lisäksi tarkoituksena on tarkastella mitkä muut sosiaaliset ja terveydelliset tekijät selittävät vanhemmuuden selviytymiskokemuksia. Käytämme Terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin laitoksen Suomessa keräämää Lapsiperhekysely-aineistoa. Tuloksemme osoittavat, että taloudellisella ahdingolla on negatiivinen vaikutus vanhemmuuden selviytymiskokemuksille, mutta myös että saatavat tuet ja työn ja perhe-elämän yhdistäminen on merkityksellistä. Tuloksilla on vaikutusta sekä sosiaalityön käytäntöihin että poliittiseen päätöksentekoon, kun räätälöidään riittäviä tukia ja palveluita vanhemmille sekä helpotetaan työn ja perhe-elämän yhdistämistä.

KEYWORDS:

• Families with children
• economic strain
• coping resources
• Finland
• survey data

AVAINSANAT:

• Lapsiperheet
• taloudellinen ahdinko
• voimavarat
• Suomi
• kyselyaineisto

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Högskolestiftelsen i Österbotten [grant number 1]; Stiftelsen för Åbo Akademi [grant number 2]; Svenska Kulturfonden [grant number 3].

Notes on contributors

Marja Lindberg

Marja Lindberg is PhD student in Social Policy at Åbo Akademi University, Finland, Master of Social Work and Political Science and Subject Teacher. Her research is on family policy and wellbeing of families with children. Before starting her doctoral thesis she has been working among disadvantaged clients, for instance with unemployed, and as a teacher in vocational education as well as a teacher in special education.

Mikael Nygård

Mikael Nygård is Professor of Social Policy at the Åbo Akademi University, Finland, with previous tenures as Academy lecturer of Social Policy at the same university, and Senior lecturer of Social Sciences at the Swedish Polytechnic, Finland. He is a board member of the Finnish Social Policy Association and a member of the editorial committee of Janus, the Finnish Journal of Social Policy and Social Work. He has held a position of Visiting Fellow at the Oxford Brooks University, UK, in 2013. His research interest ranges from research on societal participation of various groups, such as older adults, youth and people with disabilities, to health-related research and welfare state analysis.

Fredrica Nyqvist

Fredrica Nyqvist is Academy lecturer in Social Policy, Docent/Associate Professor, Fredrica Nyqvist specific research interest is on health and well-being resources. She gained her PhD in Social Policy from Åbo Akademi University in 2009 focusing on social capital and health differences amongst older people and amongst Swedish – and Finnish-speakers in Finland. Her current research is on active ageing, loneliness and linguistic minorities. After her PhD she worked as a senior researcher at National Institute of Health and Welfare (THL) and accomplished a post-doctoral Fellowship within the FLARE (Future Leaders of Ageing Research) programme.

Johanna Lammi-Taskula

Johanna Lammi-Taskula, PhD, is a sociologist and works as Research Manager, Head of Unit at the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL). Her fields of expertise are family policy, gender equality policy, reconciliation of work and family, and well-being of children and families. Dr. Lammi-Taskula has worked as a researcher in several research projects related to child care policies and practices, as well as several governmental committees and working groups as an expert on family policy and gender equality in Finland. She has authored or co-authored several publications on work-family reconciliation and well-being of families in Finnish, English and Swedish.