The African-American family structure has long been a matter of national public policy interest. The 1965 report by Daniel Patrick Moynihan, known as the Moynihan Report, examines the relationship between black poverty and the family structure. This hypothesizes that the destruction of the nuclear family structure of Black will impede further progress toward economic and political equality.
When Moynihan wrote in 1965 about the impending destruction of the Black family, the birth rate outside marriage was 25% among blacks. In 1991, 68% of black children were born out of wedlock. In 2011, 72% of Black babies were born to unmarried mothers.
Video African-American family structure
Histori
According to data taken from the 1910 Census manuscript of the US, compared to white women, black women are more likely to be teenage moms, single and married instability, and thus more likely to live in single-headed single-parent homes. This pattern has been known as the black matriarchy because of the obedience of many households headed by women.
The collapse of the Black family was first brought to national attention in 1965 by sociologists and later Democratic Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, in an innovative Moynihan Report (also known as the "Negro Family: Case For National Action"). The Moynihan report makes the argument that the absence of a relative nuclear family (those who have married father and mother) in the Black America will severely hamper Black's socio-economic progress.
The current largest family structure of African Americans composed of single parents has historical roots dating from 1880. Data from the US Census report reveal that between 1880 and 1960, married households consisting of two-parent homes were the most extensive form of African-American. family structure. Although the most popular, married households declined during this period. Single parent houses, on the other hand, remained relatively stable until 1960; when they rise dramatically. A study of 1880 family structures in Philadelphia, indicating that three-quarters of the Black family is a nuclear family, consisting of two parents and children.
In New York City in 1925, 85% of households associated with families had two parents. When Moynihan warned in his 1965 report about the impending destruction of the Black family, however, the birth rate outside marriage has risen to 25% among the Black population. This number continues to increase over time and in 1991, 68% of black children were born out of wedlock. US Census data from 2010 revealed that more African-American families consist of single mothers than married households with both parents. Recently, in 2011; it was reported that 72% of Black babies were born to unmarried mothers.
The African-American family structure has been divided into a twelve-part typology used to denote differences in family structure based on "sex, marital status, and the presence or absence of children, other relatives or non-relatives." The family sub-structure is divided into three main structures: nuclear family, extended family, and extended family.
Maps African-American family structure
African-American family at a glance
African-American nuclear family
Andrew Billingsley's research on the African-American nuclear family is organized into three groups: New Nuclear, Simple Nuclear, Fresh Nuclear I, and Nuclear II Segmented. In 1992, Paul Glick provided statistics showing an African-American core family structure composed of 80% of the total African-American family compared to 90% of all US families. According to Billingsley, the new African-American core family structure is defined as a married couple with no children.
In 1992, 47% of African-American families had a newly formed core family compared to 54% of all newly formed US core families. The simple nucleus family structure of African-Americans has been defined as a married couple with children. This is the traditional norm for African-American family composition. In 1992, 25% of African-American families were simple nuclear families compared to 36% of all US families. Nearly 70 percent of black children are born from single mothers.
The African-American segmented nuclear I (unmarried mother and children) and II (unmarried father and children) family structure are defined as parent-child relationships. In 1992, 94% of segmented families of African Americans consisted of unmarried mothers and children. Glick's research found that single parent families are twice as common in African-American families as they are in other races, and this gap continues to widen.
Big African-American family
Billingsley's research continued with a large African-American family structure, consisting of major members plus other relatives. The extended family has the same sub-structure as the nuclear family, newly finished, simple, segmented, and segmented II, with the addition of grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins ​​and additional family members. Billingsley's study found that large family structures are primarily in segmented sub-structured I families.
In 1992, 47% of all large African-American families were segmented by large family structures, compared to 12% of all other races combined. Billingsley's research shows that in extended African-American families extended relatives are often grandparents.
families that are reproduced in Africa-America
Billingsley's research reveals another type of African-American family, called supplementary family structure , which is a family composed of major members, plus nonrelative. The Billingsley case study found that this family structure accounted for 8% of black families in 1990. This family structure is different from that of the traditional family norms discussed earlier, it incorporates a nuclear family unit and is extended with nonrelative. This structure also has a new sub-structure II, simple, segmented, and segmented.
Non-family household
Billingsley introduced a new family structure that branched off from an enlarged family structure. The African-American population is beginning to see a new structure known as non-family households. Non-family households do not contain relatives. According to Glick in 1992, 37% of all households in the United States were non-family households, with more than half of this percentage being African-American.
African-American family members at a glance
E. Franklin Frazier has described the current structure of the African-American family as having two models, one in which the father is seen as a patriarch and sole breadwinner, and one in which the mother takes on a matriarchal role in a fragmented household.. In defining the family, James Stewart described it as "an institution that interacts with other institutions that make up social networks."
Stewart's research concludes that African-American families traditionally use this definition to build institutions that uphold the values ​​associated with other black institutions that produce unique social standards that deal with "economic, political, educational, health, welfare, law , culture, religion, and media. "Ruggle argues that modern US black families have seen a change in this tradition and are now seen as single parents, especially black matriarchs.
Dad's Representative
In 1997, McAdoo stated that African-American families "are often regarded as poor, fatherless, dependent on government aid, and engaged in producing many children out of wedlock." Thomas, Krampe and Newton showed that in 2005 39% of African-American children did not live with their biological father and 28% of African-American children did not live with dad's representation, compared with 15% of white children without a representative father. In African-American cultures, paternal representatives have historically acted as role models for two out of every three African-American children. Thomas, Krampe, and Newton relied on a 2002 survey showing how lack of a father's presence has resulted in some negative effects on children ranging from educational performance to teenage pregnancy. While the presence of fathers tends to have the opposite effect on children, increasing their chances of having greater life satisfaction. The research of Thomas, Krampe, and Newton shows that 32% of African-American fathers rarely never visit their children, compared with 11% of white fathers. In 2001, Hamer pointed out that many African-American youth do not know how to approach their fathers when in front of him. The survey also concluded that non-resident fathers who visited their children said that their role was mainly to spend time with their children, provide discipline and set an example. John McAdoo also notes that the role of dwelling inmates consists of providers and decision makers for households.
Mother's representative
Melvin Wilson points out that in the African-American family structure a mother's role is determined by her relationship status, is she a single mother or a married mother? According to Wilson, in most married families in African-American the role of a mother is dominated by her household responsibilities. Wilson's research states that married families in African Americans, in contrast to white families, have no gender-specific role for household services. Mother and wife are responsible for all household services around the house. According to Wilson, the task of a married mother around the house is described as a full time job. This full-time domestic work is often the second job an African-American woman does. The first job is an 8 hour workday routine he spends outside the home. Wilson also noted that the responsibilities of mothers in married families determine the satisfaction of family life as a whole.
Melvin Wilson stated that the role of single mothers in African-American families is played by 94% single African-American parents. According to Brown, parenthood as a single parent in African-American culture becomes a "proactive" choice. Melvin Wilson's research shows 62% of African-American women say this option is in answer to divorce, adoption, or just non marriage compared to 33% of white women. In this position African-American single mothers see themselves playing the role of mom and dad. Although the role of a single mother is similar to the role of a married mother, to taking care of household responsibilities and working full time, the single mother's responsibility is greater because she has no second-party income that the partner will provide for her family members. According to Brown, this lack of second-party revenue has caused the majority of African American children to be raised in single mother families with poor backgrounds.
Child
In the case study of Margaret Spencer on children living in the southern metropolitan area, she points out that children can only grow through the enculturation of a particular society. Child development depends on three areas: child-rearing practices, individual heredity, and an experienced cultural pattern. Spencer's research also concluded that African-American children have been the subject of inconsistencies in society based on their skin color. This inconsistency continues to put increasing environmental pressure on African-American families that result in the failure of most African-American children to reach their full potential. Similar to most races, the challenges experienced by African-American families usually depend on the age group of children. African-American families suffered many deaths in the age group of infants and toddlers. In particular the infant mortality rate "is twice as high for black children as it is for children in the country as a whole." The mortality rate in this age group is accompanied by a large number of diseases at the stage of care before and after birth, together with the failure to put these children into a positive and progressive learning environment after they become infants. The foundation has caused African-American children to face teenage pregnancies, juvenile detention, and other behavioral problems because they are not given the right development to succeed in the world and the social inconsistencies they will face.
Extended family members
Jones, Zalot, Foster, Sterrett, and Chester conducted a study examining parenting assistance provided to young adults and single African-American mothers. The majority of extended family members, including aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, and sometimes non-relatives, are included in this category. In Jones's study he also noted that 97% of single mother ages 28-40 admitted that they depended on at least one major family member for assistance in raising their children. Extended family members have a huge responsibility in most African-American families, especially single-parent households. According to Jones, the reason this family member belongs to an important role in the family is because they play a key role in ensuring the health and wellbeing of children. Family members extended responsibilities ranging from child rearing, financial aid, residence offerings, and meals.
Theory
Economic theory
There are several hypotheses - both socially and economically - explaining the persistence of African-American family structures today. Some researchers theorized that the low economic status of the newly liberated slaves in 1850 led to the current family structure for African-Americans. These researchers point out that extreme poverty has increased the destabilization of African American families while others show high female labor participation, less employment opportunities for black males, and a small difference between wages for men and women who have reduced the stability of marriages to black family.
Economic status proved not to have a negative impact on single parent homes. In contrast, in the 1880 census, there was a positive relationship between the number of single parent homes and per capita wealth. In addition, a young mother who was literate in 1880 was less likely to live at home with a partner than an illiterate mother. This suggests that economic factors that follow slavery alone can not explain the family style seen by African-Americans since illiterate blacks and living in the worst neighborhoods are the most likely to live at home with two parents.
The traditional African influence
Other explanations include social mechanisms for specific patterns of African American family structures. Some researchers point out the difference in norms about the need to live with spouses and with children for African-Americans. Patterns seen in African traditional culture are also considered a source for current trends in single parent homes. As Antonio McDaniel notes, African-American family dependence on kinship networks for financial, emotional, and social support can be traced back to African culture, where the emphasis is on the extended family, rather than the nuclear family.
Some researchers have hypothesized that this African tradition was modified by experience during slavery, resulting in the current African-American family structure that relies more on large family networks. The author notes that slavery causes a unique situation for African slaves because it keeps them away from true African and white culture so that slaves can not identify fully with culture. As a result, the slaves can culturally adapt and form the family structure that best suits their environment and situation.
Post-1960 expansion of the US welfare state
American economist Walter Williams and Thomas Sowell argue that the significant expansion of federal wealth under the Great Society program that began in the 1960s contributed to the destruction of African-American families. Sowell argues that "black families, who have survived slavery and discrimination for centuries, are rapidly disintegrating in the liberal welfare state that subsidizes unmarried pregnancies and transforms the welfare of emergency rescue into a way of life."
There are several other factors that may have accelerated the decline in the structure of black families such as 1) technological advances that reduce the need for manual labor into more technical labor; and 2) Women's rights movements generally open up job positions that increase competition, especially from white women, in many non-traditional areas where skilled blacks may have contributed to maintaining their family structure amid rising costs of living.
Reject black wedding
The marriage rate in African Americans is consistently lower than that of white Americans, and declines. This trend is so widespread that married families are considered a minority family structure for blacks. In 1970, 64% of African Americans married. This rate was cut in half in 2004, when it was 32%. By contrast, in 2004, 45% of African Americans never married compared to only 25% of White Americans.
While research has shown that marriage rates have dropped for African Americans, birth rates have not. Thus, the number of single parent homes has increased dramatically for black women. One reason for the low African American marriage rate is the high first marriage age for many African Americans. For African American women, marriage rates increase with age compared to white Americans who follow the same trend but get married at a younger age than African Americans.
One study found that the average age of marriage for black women with a high school degree was 21.8 years compared with 20.8 years for white women. Less labor force opportunities and a decline in real income for black males since 1960 are also recognized as a source of increased marital instability. As some researchers have argued, these two trends have led to a group of more desirable male partners and thus resulted in more divorce.
One type of marriage that has declined is the marriage of a rifle. This decline in numbers is documented by the current number of illegitimate births. Between 1965 and 1989, three quarters of illegitimate births and three-fifths of illegitimate black births could be explained by situations where parents would marry in the past. This is because, before the 1970s, the norm was such that, had the couple had an unmarried pregnancy, marriage was inevitable. Cultural norms have since changed, giving women and men more agents to decide whether or when to marry.
Increase in divorce rate
For married African-Americans, divorce rates are higher than that of white Americans. While the trend is the same for African Americans and White Americans, with at least half the marriages for the two groups ending in divorce, divorce rates tend to be consistently higher for African-Americans. African Americans also tend to spend less time to marry than White Americans. Overall, African Americans marry at an older age, spend less time marrying and are more likely to divorce than white Americans.
The low decline and success rate of low marriage is very important to examine because many African-Americans attain middle-class status through marriage and the likelihood of children growing in poverty threefold for those living in single parent homes rather than parents. Some researchers argue that the reason for the rise in divorce rates is the increased acceptance of divorce. The decline in social stigma of divorce has led to a decrease in the number of legal barriers to divorce, making it easier for couples to divorce.
Black man arrest and death
Structural barriers are often listed as reasons for the current trends in African American family structures, particularly the decline in marriage rates. The unbalanced sex ratio has been described as one of these obstacles since the late nineteenth century, where the Census data show that in 1984 there were 99 black men for every 100 black women in the population. The 2003 census data shows there are 91 Black men for every 100 women.
Black men's detention and higher mortality rates are often shown for this unbalanced sex ratio. Although black males account for 6% of the population, they account for 50% of those imprisoned. This imprisonment rate for black males increased by more than four levels between 1980 and 2003. The incarceration rate for African American men was 3.045 out of 100,000 compared with 465 per 100,000 white American males. The chances of black men being arrested and imprisoned at least once in their lifetime in many areas across the country are very high. For Washington, D.C., this possibility is between 80 and 90%.
The mortality rate for African American men is also typically higher than for African American women. Between 1980 and 2003, 4,744 to 27,141 African American men die every year more than African American women. This higher incarceration and mortality rates help explain the low marriage rate for many African American women who can not find a black couple.
Implications
The Moynihan report, authored by the Assistant Secretary of Labor, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, began the debate over whether the African-American family structure leads to negative outcomes, such as poverty, teenage pregnancies and inequalities in education or whether the opposite is true and Africa The American family structure is the result of discrimination institutional, poverty and other segregation. Regardless of causality, researchers have found a consistent relationship between the current structure of African American families and poverty, education, and pregnancy. According to C. Eric Lincoln, the "eternal disease" of the Negro family is a father absent from the African-American family structure. C. Eric Lincoln also points out that the implicit American notion that poverty, teenage pregnancy, and poor educational performance have become a struggle for the African-American community is due to an African-American father who does not exist. According to the Moynihan Report, the failure of male-dominated subcultures, which exist only in African-American culture, and reliance on matriarchal control have been strongly present in African-American family structures over the past three centuries. The absence of this father, or "persecution", has resulted in higher rates of African-American crime than the National average, African-American drug addiction higher than whites, and the degree of disability to be at least 25% or higher than that of the skin white.. A family needs the presence of both parents for the youth to "learn the values ​​and expectations of society."
Poverty
Single female blackheaded single parents house still shows how relevant the feminization of poverty. Black women often work in low-income and female-dominated jobs. Black women are also a large percentage of people who suffer from poverty. In addition, the racialization of poverty in combination with feminization creates further barriers for Black-growing youth, in single parent homes, and in poverty. For couples who married in 2007, there was a 5.8% poverty rate.
This amount, however, varies when considering race so 5.4% of all whites, 9.7% of blacks, and 14.9% of all Hispanic people live in poverty. These figures are increasing for single parent homes, with 26.6% of all single parent families living in poverty, 22.5% of all white-person single persons, 44.0% of all blacks single parents, and 33.4% of all single parents The Hispanics live in poverty.
While majority opinion tends to focus on increasing poverty as a result of single parent homes, research has shown that this is not always the case. In a study examining the effects of single parent homes on stress and parental practice, researchers found that the family structure and marital status were not as big as the poverty and experience factors that mothers had as they grew up. Furthermore, the authors found minor parental dysfunction in parenting style and efficacy for single mothers, suggesting that two-parent homes are not always the only type of successful family structure. The authors suggest that the focus should also be placed on the poverty facing African Americans as a whole, not just those who live in single parent homes and those who are from typical African American family structures.
Educational performance
There is a consensus in the literature on the negative consequences of growing in single parent homes on educational attainment and success. Children who grow up in single-parent homes are more likely to not finish school and generally earn fewer school years than in two-parent homes. In particular, boys who grow up at home only with their mothers are more likely to receive lower grades and exhibit behavioral problems.
For senior high school students, the African American family structure also influences their educational goals and expectations. Studies on this topic have indicated that children who grow in single-parent homes face disruptions in young childhood, adolescence and young adults as well. Although these effects are sometimes minimal and contradictory, it is generally agreed that the growing family structure in children is essential to their success in education. This is very important for African-American children who have a 50% chance of being born outside of marriage and grown at home with single parents.
Some arguments for the reasoning behind the decrease in achievement for single-parent homes point to socio-economic problems arising from maternal-headed homes. Particularly relevant to a family centered on black matriarchy, one theory holds that the reason female children headed households are worse off in education is due to economic insecurity that occurs because of single mothers. Mothers with single parents often have lower incomes and thus can be expelled from home and forced to work longer hours, and are sometimes forced to move to a poorer neighborhood with fewer educational resources.
Other theories point to the importance of male and father role models in particular, for the emotional and cognitive development of children, especially boys. Even for fathers who may not be home, studies have shown that the time spent with fathers has a positive relationship with psychological wellbeing including depression and anxiety. In addition, the father's emotional support is associated with fewer delinquency problems and lower drug and marijuana use.
Teen pregnancy
Teenage and unplanned pregnancies pose a threat to those affected by them with unplanned pregnancies leading to greater divorce rates for younger married individuals after having children. In one study, 60% of young married parents had separated within the first five years of marriage. In addition, as reported in one article, unplanned pregnancies are often cited as an excuse for retired parents, resulting in greater economic burden and instability for these teenage parents later on.
Another study found that father's attitudes toward sexuality and sexual expression at a young age are more likely to determine sexual behavior by teenagers irrespective of mother's opinion on the issue. For these youth, the opinion of fathers influences their behavior in a positive way, regardless of whether the parent lives inside or outside the home and the age of the student. Another study that looked at how a mother-child relationship affects teenage pregnancy found that negative parental relationships led to young women, dating later, getting pregnant earlier and having more sex partners.
Teenagers living in married families have been shown to have a lower risk for teenage pregnancy. Teenage girls in single parent families are six times more likely to become pregnant and 2.8 times more likely to have sex at an earlier age than girls in married household homes. For the majority of black youths living in female-headed households, these findings suggest the need for fathers to help curb the rate of teenage pregnancy and reduce the negative outcomes associated with teenage pregnancies and the possibility of single parent homes.
Criticism and support
Cosby and Poussaint's suspicions of single parent families
Bill Cosby criticized the current Black family condition that was dominated by single-parent households. In a speech at the NAACP in 2004, Cosby said "" In an environment where most of us grow up, parents do not walk "." You have a pile of beautiful sweet things that nature brings - resurrected by no one. "
In Cosby's 2007 book, People Come On: On the Path of Victim to the Winners, the author along with psychiatrist Alvin Poussaint, Cosby and Poussaint wrote that "A fatherless home is a challenge," and that â € Å" The fatherless environment is a disaster. "Cosby and Poussaint wrote that mothers" have trouble demonstrating to the son how to be a man, "and that this presents a problem when there is no father figure around to show the children how to channel their natural aggressiveness in a constructive way. and Poussaint also writes, "We wonder if these children's anger was born when their father left them."
Cosby and Poussaint stated that the verbal and emotional abuse of children stands out in the parenting style of some Black single mothers, with serious developmental consequences for children. "Words like 'You're stupid,' 'You're an idiot,' 'I'm sorry you were born,' or 'you'll never mean anything' can jab a dagger in a child's heart." "Single moms who are angry with men, whether their current boyfriend or their children's father, regularly transferring their anger to their son, because they are afraid to get it out to the grown men" Cosby and Poussaint wrote that the nurturing environment This formative in the Black single parent family leads to "wounded anger - children against parents, women against men, men against their mothers and women in general".
Research on African-American Families
The Book of African-American Family Research , written by Robert B. Hill and published in 1968, matches the Moynihan Report, or Negro Family: Case for National Action , which discusses how single-parent homes will be the destruction of African-Americans. In this report, Hill writes to support African-American families, talks about the strengths and difficulties in African-American homes, detailing most of the positive African American family structure.
In his report, Hill said the Black family had five major powers:
- Strong religious orientation
- High Level of Aspiration: aspirations to achieve more than they "should" to aspire to consider the situation
- Role Exchange: women are not afraid to support the family if men are not able.
- Circle of kinship: big family in the black community
- Willingness to Work
Policy proposal
Writers Angela Hattery and Earl Smith have offered a solution to overcome the high rates of Black children born out of wedlock. Three of the Hattery and Smith solutions focus on parental support for children, equal access to education, and alternatives to detention for nonviolent offenders. According to Hattery and Smith, African-American families are in a system that is "pitted against them" and there are individual institutional and solution solutions that Americans and citizens can take to reduce the implications associated with African-American family structure.
Parent support for children
According to Hattery and Smith, about 50% of African-American children are poor because they depend on a single mother. In states such as Wisconsin, for a child to be a welfare recipient or receive a "bridal tariff", their parents must marry. The Hattery recognizes one truth about this law, namely that it recognizes that a child is "entitled" for the financial and emotional support of both parents. One of the Hattery and Smith solutions found around the idea that an African-American child is entitled to both parents' financial and emotional support. The government does require parents without custody to pay a percentage to their child every month, but according to Hattery the only way this will help eliminate child poverty is if the policy is enforced actively.
Educational equality
During the last 400 years of American life, many African-Americans have been denied the education required to provide traditional American family structures. Hattery points out that the schools and educational resources available to most African Americans are poorly equipped and unable to give their students the knowledge they need to be ready for college. In 2005, the Manhattan Policy Research Institute report shows that although integration has been a recent boost, over the past 15 years there has been a 13% reduction in integration in public schools.
This same report also shows that in 2002, 56% of African-American students graduated from secondary school with a diploma, while 78% of white students graduated. If students do not feel they are learning, they will not continue to go to school. This conclusion is made from the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research report stating that only 23% of African-American students who graduate from high school feel ready for college. Hatterly points out that the government is investing into African-American families by investing in African-American children's education. A solution is found in providing the same resources provided to whites-dominated schools. According to Hatterly, through educational equality the African-American family structure can increase opportunities for growth with equality in employment, wages, and health insurance.
Alternative for incoordination
According to Hattery and Smith, 25-33% of African-American men spend time in prison or jail and according to Thomas, Krampe, and Newton, 28% of African-American children do not live with dad's representatives. According to Hatterly, the government can stop this situation that many African-American children suffer because of their father's absence. Hatterly suggests probation or treatment (for alcohol or drugs) as an alternative to detention. Detention not only continues the negative assumptions of African-American family structures, but perpetuates poverty, single parents, and the separation of family units.
See also
- Family structure in the United States
- Feminization of poverty
- African American culture
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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