Comparing Factors of Couple Resilience Across Ethnic Groups in Ivialaysia

Resilience involves the capacity to withstand and rebound f r om crisis and adversity a nd to maintain successful adaptation, positive functioning or competence (Egeland, Carlson Sroufe, 1993; Walsh, 1999). Couple resilience is a unique and complex construct, comprising 17 individual components that were logically clustered into four groups and can serve as a framework for understanding couples. The four groups are Personal Characteristics, Interpersonal Characteristics, Intrapersonal Characteristics and External Factors. The purpose of this study was to identify which of the factors are important for each ethnic group. Using the Resilience in Couples Questionnaires (Everts 1998) and scoring guidelines, 200 postgraduate students who have been married for more than 10 years,were interviewed. The students included 46 Malays, 34 Chinese, and 20 Indians from Peninsular Malaysia; and 58 Kadazandusuns and 42 Bajaus from Sabah. Results showed that the dominant factors for most groups were affection, commitment and tolerance. For the Chinese, communication skills were important factor. For the Malays, optimism and self-protection were important factors,and for the Kadazandusuns, Bajaus and Indians, shared values was important. The majority of responses across all ethnic groups fell in the Intrapersonal Cluster. For the total sample, the factors mentioned in descending order were: Intrapersonal Characteristics (27.3%), Interpersonal Characteristics (13.5%), External Factors (10.5%), and Personal Characteristics (7.4%). The findings of this study indicate that despite differences among the ethnic groups, they agree generally on factors of couple resilience.