Rippling Tides: Understanding Climate Change Impacts, Gender Roles, Communication and Family Dynamics in Indonesian Coastal Communities

Abstract

This study examines the perceptions of climate change, division of gender roles, verbal affection, and verbal violence within husband-wife dynamics in coastal fishing families in Indonesia. Employing quantitative research, we conducted purposive sampling involving 456 fishing families across three northern and southern coastal communities in West Java Province, Indonesia. The study utilized independent t-tests and Pearson's correlation to analyze the statistical relationships among continuous variables. Our findings indicate that families on the North Coast experience the impacts of climate change more prominently than those on the South Coast. However, the consequences of these impacts appear more pronounced in the South. Husband-wife cooperation in domestic, public, and social activities is more prevalent on the South Coast compared to the North. A complex interplay is observed between verbal affection, verbal violence, education, and family size in shaping household interactions. In the South, exhibition of verbal affection by the women correlates with their perception of the impacts of climate change, while verbal violence is associated with their years of education and number of children. In the North, exhibition of verbal violence by the women correlates with the number of children, and verbal affection influences their perception of climate change. The division of roles between husband and wife in the domestic sector in the northern region is characterized by verbal affection, while the public sector in the southern region exhibits a significantly positive relationship with verbal violence. This study suggests that regional differences in role divisions within households are associated with distinct emotional dynamics.