A meta-analytic investigation of the relationships between different dimensions of family strengths and personal and family well-being

Objective: Evaluate the relationships between five family strengths dimensions (commitment, communication, cohesion, coping & competence) and personal and family well-being. Background: Noted family strengths experts contend that families who describe themselves as strong share a number of broad qualities or traits. Family strengths are viewed as internal resources that are hypothesized to be related to enhanced personal and family well-being. Method: Meta-analysis was used to determine the effect sizes between different family strengths dimensions and both parent and family well-being. The meta-analysis included 14 studies (N = 3,491 participants) conducted in 10 countries. The focus of analysis was the sizes of effects between each family strengths dimension and both parent and family well-being and whether the strengths of relations between family strengths and well-being differed for each family strength dimension. Results: Publication bias analysis indicated no differences in the sizes of effects for peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed research reports. Each of the family strengths dimensions was significantly related to both personal and family well-being. The size of effect for the relationship between family strengths and family well-being was larger than that for personal well-being. The between type of family strengths dimension analyses showed that the size of effect between family competence and personal and family well-being was smaller than those for each of the other family strengths dimensions. Conclusion: The findings support the hypothesis that different dimensions of family strengths are important predictors of personal and family well-being. Results also indicated the strength of the relationship between family strengths and well-being differed between the five family strengths dimensions.