Relationships and Resilience in Young adults from Fragmented and Discordant Households in India

India witnesses high rates of intimate partner violence [37.7% incidence in the South East Asia zone per WHO data, 2012]. Taboos about marital separation and divorce exist across socioeconomic strata, meaning, a large number of Indian children grow up in discordant households witness chronic abuse of one or both parents. Another belief that binds many discordant partners is that separation or divorce leads to poor mental health and personality outcomes in progenies, long term. On the contrary, prior studies in Western samples have shown that there are significant negative outcomes for individuals vicariously exposed early childhood adversity including a discordant or violent household. The objective of this study was to assess whether resilience, a key personality attribute, differs among college-aged individuals who grew up in traditional two-parent households without conflict, a discordant household or a single parent household. 116 participants aged 18-24 (M=20.3 SD= 1.2, 86F) were recruited at Ashoka University. Resilience scores were calculated using The Resilience Scale. A two-way ANOVA examining the effect of family structure and gender on resilience score showed that family structure but not gender has a direct effect on resilience scores [ F (2, 116) = 3.122 p=0.048] but the effect is barely significant. Post hoc (Bonferroni) testing indicated that individuals from single-parent households (M=136, SD=19.01) or discordant households (M=134, SD= 17.81, p=0.50) tended to score higher on resilience than individuals from two-parent, non-conflicted families (M=121.05, SD= 20.53, p=0.066). Contrary to popular belief, results suggest that growing up in traditional two-parent households do not offer any significant advantage over single-parent households as far as resilience is concerned. These results provide initial evidence against existing social taboos and can be expanded upon for further cross-cultural validation. Further, a qualitative study explores the experiences of relationships of young adults from the three family types.