Chapter Overview

Family living and styles vary according to cultural and ethnic backgrounds and socioeconomic factors. Differences can be found in family structure, household composition, life goals and philosophies, family governance, gender roles, husband-wife relationship, sexual values and behaviors, and child-rearing patterns. American culture is a mixture of arts, beliefs, customs, and values of many different ethnic groups. African Americans are the largest ethnic minority group. They have shown a large increase in single-parent families, even though African Americans tend to have a strong family ideology. African American families evidence many strengths even though many continue to experience severe discrimination and very difficult economic conditions. Mexican Americans are the second largest ethnic minority group. They have strong family ties with a focus on familism over individualism. They tend to have large families and low divorce and educational achievement rates as well as marked differences in gender roles. Native Americans have the highest birth and death rates and the shortest life expectancy of any group. They tend to have a low standard of living and be very poorly educated. The tribe rather than the nuclear family is the primary social structure. Cultural conflict is widespread; many Native Americans have major difficulties resolving the dilemma of whether to accommodate to the dominant culture or to retain traditional customs and values. Chinese Americans, the largest Asian American ethnic group, are more highly educated and employed and less likely to be divorced than the general population. They place high value on education, industriousness, and family ties, yet still face employment discrimination. They have faced tremendous challenges with acculturation, particularly in the major differences between traditional Asian values and contemporary urban industrial values in the United States.