Background: The involvement of the husbands in the issue of drug addiction has impacted the wives’ livelihoods. Due to drug addiction amongst husbands, the wives experience stress and strain. The Stress Strain Coping Support Model (SSCS) was established to better comprehend how coping influences stress and strain. Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between the stress which refers to family impact experienced by the wives of drug addicts, in terms of economic difficulties and marital conflict, and mental wellbeing. Furthermore, this study examines the role of coping as a mediating factor between family impact and mental wellbeing. Methods: This study involved 132 wives of low-income drug addicts in Malaysia, who were selected using a purposive sampling method. Economic Strain Scale (ESS) and Braiker-Kelly Marital Conflict Scale (BKMCS) were used to measure family impact. Coping and Adaptation Processing Scale Short Form (CAPS-SF) and Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (SWEMWBS) were used to measure coping and mental wellbeing of the respective respondents. Results: Path analysis using SmartPLS software version 3.3.7 showed that there is a direct association between family impact and coping, and between coping and mental wellbeing. The results also showed that family impact was associated indirectly with mental wellbeing through coping.  Conclusions: The findings benefited drug addict wives and practitioners related to this field in terms of enhancing the use of coping mechanisms in managing family impact and improving mental wellbeing, specifically amongst low-income drug addict wives.

Background: The prevalence of depression is higher among women in the general population. While previous studies have contributed to demonstrating a higher risk of depression among women, there is a scarcity of studies on depression issues among women who experienced life as a spouse to drug addicts. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the association between parental stress faced in raising children and depression. Moreover, the study intended to examine the impact of parental stress on depression as mediated by resilience. Methods: Using the purposive sampling method, a total of 132 B40 wives of drug addicts were chosen to participate in this study. Data were collected from six states in Malaysia using a structured questionnaire consisting of the Parental Stress Scale (PSS), Brief Resilience Scale (BRS), and Zung’s Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS). SmartPLS software version 3.3.7 was used to analyze the data collected. Results: Path analysis revealed that parental stress was significantly associated with depression through resilience. Specifically, the indirect effect highlighted that resilience was a partial mediator in the association between parental stress and depression. Nevertheless, it is also shown that even after accounting for the mediating role of resilience, parental stress still has a positive impact on depression. Conclusions: The present study proffers additional strategies to drug addicts’ wives, advocates, academicians, practitioners, and policymakers to approach depression issues in this community for better well-being.

Peningkatan kes penyalahgunaan dadah telah mencetuskan kajian di seluruh dunia yang memfokuskan kepada impak penagihan dadah terhadap ahli keluarga. Objektif utama kajian ini adalah untuk mengenalpasti daya tindak dan adaptasi yang dilakukan oleh isteri B40 kepada penagih dadah di Malaysia, serta meneroka kesejahteraan psikologi responden selama tempoh pemulihan suami. Kaedah pensampelan bertujuan telah digunakan untuk mengenalpasti responden yang menepati kriteria kajian. Responden seterusnya ditemu bual serta maklumat yang diberikan telah ditranskrip dan dianalisis untuk mengenalpasti tema-tema kajian. Hasil kajian mendapati dua tema telah dikenalpasti sebagai strategi daya tindak iaitu daya tindak fokus masalah dan daya tindak fokus emosi, tiga tema bagi sumber daya tindak iaitu komitmen keibubapaan, sokongan sosial dan ikatan emosi, serta dua tema bagi kesejahteraan psikologi iaitu ekspresi emosi negatif dan optimisme. Implikasi dan cadangan dibincangkan secara lanjut dalam artikel ini.