The Relationship of Differentiation, Family Coping Skills, and Family Functioning with Optimism in College-Age Students

Abstract

The marriage and family therapy (MFT) field would benefit from new research about positive subjective experiences, such as optimism, in order to construct and nurture strengths for developing more positive emotions. Through a better understanding of optimism, marriage and family therapists (MFTs) can explore which strategies might help families and individuals better cope with distressing emotions by building buffering strengths. In this study we address the relationship of differentiation, family coping, and family functioning to optimism. We found that differentiation, family coping, and family functioning each have a significant effect on attributional style. The results of this study also indicated that encouraging clients to take an I-position and to reframe problems, in particular, may lead to greater optimism. This study contributes to the lack of research regarding strength-based theories in the MFT field.

The Relationship between the Family Functioning of Individuals with Drug Addiction and Relapse Tendency: A Moderated Mediation Model

“…Second, this study also reveals that psychological capital plays a partial mediating role between family functioning and relapse tendency. On the one hand, family functioning can positively predict the psychological capital of individuals with drug addiction, which is consistent with previous studies [18,19,21,22]. Optimism and self-efficacy are two core factors of an individual's sense of mastery.…”

“…Previous studies have shown that family functioning has a significant positive predictive effect on optimism [18]. Family functioning can significantly positively predict an individual's levels of hope [19,20], resilience [13,21] and self-efficacy [22].…”

Family Functioning and Relapse among Drug Addicts in Pakistan: Mediating Role of Psychological Capital

“…The results of current study showed presence of significant positive relation between psychological capitals and family functioning which demonstrated that if psychological capital is high then family functioning is also high and vice versa. These outcomes are consistent with previous researches which also suggested existence of positive relation between psychological capital and family functioning (Sahin et al, 2010). Therefore, hypothesis is accepted.…”

“…Research studies revealed the existence of positive relationship between psychological capitals and functioning within family (Sahin et al, 2010). Results of one study related to impact of psychological capital and family functioning shows that one dimension of psychological capital named as optimism has significant positive predictive relation with family functioning (Sahin et al, 2010).The relation of individual's level of hope and functioning of household can have significant positive prediction (Connelly, 2005). Similarly family functioning and other dimensions of psychological capital including resilience (Mathiesen & Prior, 2006) and self-efficacy (Reitz et al, 2014) also have positive predictive significant relation.…”

Family Dysfunction and Cyberchondria among Chinese Adolescents: A Moderated Mediation Model

“…One possible explanation is that the family plays a crucial role in shaping personality traits, such as optimism and pessimism. If the family system does not facilitate appropriate functioning, it is quite difficult to raise an optimistic child [ 80 ]. In other words, the optimistic personality of adolescents is nested under the influence of family function.…”