Family science literature is traditionally concerned with the well-being of families, and often considers the experiences of families following challenging events or adversity, such as unemployment. The resilience theoretical framework, in particular, examines the ways and the reasons that families do or do not bounce back or recover following adversity. Resilience research has found that the presence of "protective factors" makes families more likely to bounce back, while the presence of "risk factors" makes families less likely to do so. In this study, the FRAS - Family Resilience Assessment Scale (Sixbey, 2005) is utilized to measure protective factors as predictors of family breakup. The six-factor structure created by Sixbey includes the following protective factors: 1) family communication and problem-solving (FCPS), 2) utilizing social and economic resources (USER), 3) maintaining a positive outlook (MPO), 4) family connectedness (FC), 5) family spirituality (FS), and 6) ability to make meaning of adversity (AMMA). The two risk factors that were selected for inclusion in this study were marital status (legally married versus cohabitation) and percent of household income lost at the time of the initial unemployment of the primary provider. Research has shown that legally married couples tend to be more stable than cohabiting couples. Percent of household income lost was included as it was hypothesized that as this percent increased, couples would be more likely to split due to financial strain, which is well known to cause stress in the couple relationship. In addition, this study examines the perception of blame as it relates to the occurrence of unemployment of a primary provider, following which families may or may not stay together. Psychology literature (causal attribution and trauma literature) indicate that internalization versus externalization of blame for events and behavior affect a person's response to adverse events, and, therefore, their future decisions and behavior (Heider, 1958; Kelly, 1967). Specifically, this survey research asked participants (who were the female partners of the persons who had lost the job) to report how they perceive responsibility for the unemployment taking place. Did the job loss occur due to behavior or decisions of the employee himself, or was it due to other factors, primarily outside of his control? This analysis looked at how this perception of blame affects the likelihood of family breakup following unemployment. 140 adult female partner respondents completed an online survey which included demographic data, questions related to all of the independent variables, the statements of the FRAS instrument (using a Likert scale for responses), and additional questions related to the partner's perception of blame for the unemployment. The data were analyzed using binary logistic regression to test the significance of the independent variables as predictors of family breakup. Findings were that duration of unemployment and percent of household income lost were not found to be significant predictors. Marital status was found to be a significant predictor. Of the six protective factors tested, four were found to be significant (USER, MPO, FC, and AMMA), and two were not (FCPS and FS). One of the questions related to the internalization of blame was found to be significant. Implications, limitations, and recommendations for future research are discussed.
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