1 Families First Edmonton Family Characteristics, Family Functioning & Parental Wellbeing: Preliminary Analyses

2 Outline  FFE family characteristics  FFE family functioning  FFE parental mental and physical health  Implications

3 Family Characteristics  What are FFE families like?  How similar/different are they from other Alberta families?  ethnic origin  size  composition

4 Parents’ Ethnic Origin 45% 16 % 6% Canadian-born Foreign-born

5 Family Size and Composition  61% are headed by a lone parent (39% have a co parent)  84% of the time the co-parent is a spouse or common-law partner  92% of the families are made up of two generations  8% have three generations and less than a percent have four generations  range from 2 to 13 members  average of 3.7 family members  range from 1 to 8 children  average of 2.1 children

6 Family Functioning  How well are FFE families functioning?  Is the level of family functioning related to family characteristics?

7 Measuring Family Functioning  4 items from the General Functioning Scale of the McMaster Family Assessment Device (FAD)  We can express our feelings to each other.  There are lots of bad feelings in the family.  We feel accepted for what we are.  We don’t get along well together.  Parents were asked “How well does each statement describe your family as a whole—your family consisting of the family members living in this household?”; they responded along a 4 point rating scale (ranging from “not at all well” to “very well”).

8 Two ways to look at how FFE families are functioning 1.Calculate the average score for our FFE sample and compare our FFE sample average to general population norms. 2.Determine the number/percentage of families whose scores fall above the cut-off for healthy family functioning, that is, determine the percentage of families scoring in the unhealthy family functioning range.

9 FFE Family Functioning 1.Average Level of Family Functioning  FFE families’ look very similar to the general population when average level of family functioning for the whole FFE sample is compared to the average level of family functioning in the general population.  FFE family average = 1.77  General population average = Percentage of Families Falling in the Unhealthy Range of Functioning (2.00 +)  53% of FFE families fall in the unhealthy range

10 FFE Family Functioning Average FAD Score Percent of Sample 53% unhealthy range 47% healthy range

11 Is the level of family functioning related to family characteristics?  No significant differences between the family functioning of lone-parent families and co-parent families.  Significant differences by ethnic origin.

12 Poorer Family Functioning in Foreign-Born and Aboriginal Families Foreign- born Canadian- born

13 Parental Health  What is the health of FFE parents?  How are FFE parents functioning in terms of their mental and physical health?  Is parental health related to family characteristics?  Is parental mental and physical health related to gender, family composition, ethnic origin?

14 Measuring Parental Mental Health Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90): Assesses the intensity of an individual’s psychological distress  90 physical and psychological symptoms  respondents rate severity of symptoms (past 7 days) 5 point scale: 0 = “not at all” to 4 = “extremely”  Global Symptom Index and 9 subscales: 1. anxiety6. psychoticism 2. hostility7. somatic complaints 3. phobia8. interpersonal sensitivity 4. depression9. obsessive-compulsive 5. paranoia

15 Parental Mental Health  Overall FFE parents report significantly poorer mental health than adults in the general population.  Mothers report poorer mental health than fathers  Lone parents report poorer mental heath than those with a co-parent  Those with adolescent children report poorer mental health than those with infants, preschoolers, or school- age  Generally Canadian-born report poorer mental health than foreign-born

16 Parental Mental Health Intensity of distress

17 Measuring Parental Physical Health  Parents were asked “in general, would your say your health is”, and responded by indicating that their health fell into one of the following 5 categories:  Poor  Fair  Good  Very good  Excellent  This single item has been found to be a valid and reliable measure of physical health and to predict morbidity and mortality.

18 Parental Physical Health Overall FFE parents report poorer physical health than other Albertans

19 Parental Physical Health  FFE parents’ physical health is related to a number of factors:  Gender: women report poorer health  Co-parent status: lone parents report poorer health than those with a co-parent  Age of child(ren): parents with adolescent children report poorer health than those with infants, preschool, and school age children  Ethnic origin: Canadian-born parents report poorer health than foreign-born parents

20 Parental Self-Reported Physical Health

21 Key Points  Some differences between FFE families and other Alberta families in terms of size and composition:  Slightly larger (3.7 for FFE vs 3.1 for Alberta)  More likely to be Aboriginal or foreign born (54% of FFE families vs 22% of Alberta)  More likely to be headed by a lone parent (61% FFE vs 24% Alberta)  Half of FFE families fall in the unhealthy range of family functioning  Canadian-born non-Aboriginal families are more likely to be in the healthy family functioning range; Aboriginal and foreign-born are more likely to be in the unhealthy range  FFE parents report poorer mental and physical health than adults in the general population  Mental and physical health of parents are related to a number of parent and family characteristics (e.g., gender, co-parenting status, age of children, and ethnic origin)

22 Implications  Similarities and differences in family characteristics, family functioning, and parental health:  implications for programming  The compromised health of parents in FFE families:  interferes with parenting and places children at risk for poor development  limits parents’ abilities to be fully engaged citizens

23 Partners  Alberta Employment and Immigration (Co-Lead)  City of Edmonton Community Services (Co-Lead) Alberta Children’s Services Alberta Health Services Edmonton Aboriginal Urban Affairs Committee Edmonton Community Foundation Edmonton & Area Child and Family Services Authority—Region 6 Quality of Life Commission United Way of the Alberta Capital Region University of Alberta - Community-University Partnership for the Study of Children, Youth, and Families

24 Acknowledgement AHFMR Alberta Heritage Foundation of Medical Research