Navigating family bonds in the great recession: Insights from parents and young adults

Abstract

The 2007-2009 economic recession was among the largest in U.S. history, which had reverberating impacts on families within the United States and globally. Latine families were among those most adversely affected economically, yet did not show increased negative outcomes in their psychosocial and physical health. Informed by the Family Stress Model and using a mixed methods approach, this study examined the qualitative experiences of 111 Mexican-origin families during this recession and its impact on their family relationships and adjustment. Ninety mothers (M_age = 44.07 years), 67 fathers (M_age = 47.03 years), 47 younger siblings (57% women; M_age = 17.74 years), and 50 older siblings (58% women; M_age = 21.06 years) specifically noted that the recession impacted their family via three broad themes: changes to family dynamics, strategies for managing financial hardship, and impacts on well-being. Additionally, we quantitatively assessed how early-recession sociodemographic, familial, and cultural characteristics related to participants' experiences. Parents who reported more positive adjustment strategies and well-being in their narratives reported having warmer parent-child relationships and more egalitarian gender role attitudes when the recession began. In addition, youths' higher religiosity was linked to more recession-related family conflict. Our findings highlight how family members work together to buffer the effects of economic hardship via reorganizing resources, fostering interdependence, placing family needs above one's own, and having flexibility in one's roles. As such, these findings have the potential to inform expansions of the Family Stress Model to capture resilience and strength in Mexican-origin families and inform culturally responsive programming in the future. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).