Date of Award

2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Clinical Psychology

Department

Psychology

Committee Chair and Members

Philip Wong, Chair,

Sara Haden

Caroline Clauss-Ehlers

Keywords

Arab American Bowen’s family systems Coping Cross-cultural Differentiaton of self, Stress

Abstract

Family functioning plays a central role in the lives of Arab American young adults, yet little research has examined how family dynamics relate to stress in this population. Guided by Bowen’s (1978) Family Systems Theory, this study investigated the relationship between family functioning and perceived stress, as well as the roles of Differentiation of Self (DoS), Reflective Coping, and collectivistic orientation. Participants included 225 young adults ages 18 to 25 who self-identified as Arab American. Data were collected using self-report measures, and structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesized model. Results indicated that family functioning was indirectly related to lower perceived stress through DoS; however, this indirect effect was in the opposite direction than hypothesized when DoS was examined as a global construct. Findings suggested that the global measure of DoS may not adequately capture differentiation in Arab American young adults, as the individual dimensions provided a more meaningful understanding of stress. Specifically, Emotional Reactivity was associated with greater stress, whereas I-Position was associated with lower stress, consistent with theoretical expectations. In contrast, Fusion with Others and Emotional Cutoff may reflect culturally relevant relational dynamics that contributed to the global DoS score functioning opposite to what was expected. Exploratory analyses further showed that healthier family functioning was associated with lower emotional reactivity and higher I-Position, both of which were related to lower stress. Gender differences were also observed, with variations in stress and emotional reactivity across men and women. Reflective Coping was positively associated with healthier family functioning but did not significantly explain the relationship between family functioning and stress. Collectivistic orientation did not significantly moderate the relationship between family functioning, DoS, and stress, although it was positively associated with Reflective Coping. These findings underscore the importance of culturally contextualizing DoS, coping, and family relationships and highlight important clinical implications for working with Arab American young adults.

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