Identifying Individual, Family, and Social Factors Contributing to Psychological Empowerment Among Women

Anouk Vermeulen; Ágnes Tóth; Thomas Declerck

Authors

Anouk Vermeulen Department of Developmental Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands Author https://orcid.org/0009-0007-6832-4297
Ágnes Tóth Department of Clinical Psychology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary Corresponding Author https://orcid.org/0009-0005-8606-0518
Thomas Declerck Department of Social Psychology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium Author https://orcid.org/0009-0003-1980-4973

Keywords:

Psychological Empowerment, Women, Self-Efficacy, Autonomy, Family Support, Social Participation, Socioeconomic Opportunities

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to identify and explain the individual, family, and social factors contributing to psychological empowerment among women in Hungary.

Methods and Materials: This qualitative study was conducted using conventional qualitative content analysis. The participants were 24 adult women residing in Budapest, Debrecen, Szeged, and Pécs, Hungary, who were selected through purposive sampling with maximum variation in age, education, employment status, marital status, family structure, and socioeconomic background. Data were collected through individual semi-structured, in-depth interviews lasting approximately 45–70 minutes. Interviews explored participants’ experiences of psychological empowerment and the personal, relational, and social conditions that strengthened or restricted their autonomy, competence, self-confidence, and perceived control. Data collection and analysis were conducted concurrently until theoretical saturation was achieved. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed inductively through identification of meaning units, initial coding, constant comparison, categorization, and development of overarching dimensions. Credibility, dependability, confirmability, and transferability were strengthened through iterative analysis, member checking, peer discussion, reflexive documentation, and maintenance of an audit trail.

Findings: Analysis generated 683 initial codes, which were organized into 27 subcategories, nine major categories, and three overarching dimensions. Individual factors included self-awareness and self-acceptance, perceived competence and self-efficacy, psychological resilience and adaptive coping, and autonomy and purposeful agency. Family factors comprised emotional security and supportive relationships, equitable family interaction and decision-making, and family encouragement for personal development. Social factors included access to socioeconomic opportunities and supportive social participation and recognition.

Conclusion: Psychological empowerment among women is a multidimensional and dynamic process arising from the interaction of personal capacities, supportive family relationships, and enabling social conditions; therefore, sustainable empowerment requires interventions that simultaneously strengthen individual agency, relational support, and access to meaningful social and economic opportunities.

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