Sojourning Japanese Mothers, Family Resilience and Child Adjustment in the U.S.

Studies consistently report sojourning Japanese families face challenges in family functioning and children's behavioral adjustment in different cultures. However, research on sojourning Japanese families’ resilience is limited. Studies have primarily focused on the adjustment of sojourning Japanese mothers’ mental health and stress and how these factors relate to children’s mental health. No studies were located that explicitly focused on the resilience of Japanese families and the relationship with child adjustment. This study applied Walsh’s (2006) family resilience framework that is based on 9 key processes of family resilience to investigate sojourning families in the US with children ages 4 to 8. This presentation focuses on data from mothers’ reports of processes of family resilience used, the association of family resilience with child adjustment (SDQ) and stressful life events (SLES), stress raising young children, marital satisfaction (KMSS), the importance of mothering to identity, and time spent with children.Results: mothers’ most likely used process was belief system. FRA was related to 5 factors: SQ, KMSS, Stress Raising Young Children, importance of identity as mother, and spent time with children on weekends. Stress Raising Young Children and KMSS affected the relationship between FRA and SLES.There is correlation between problem solving skill and SDQ.