In his overall assessment of works on the black family the author concludes that imposition of ethnocentric values on the analysis of black family life preclude application of much of the current research to the development of a viable sociology of the black family. (Author)

Tested a family process model that links family financial resources and parental educational attainment to academic competence during early adolescence on 90 rural African American youths ages 9-12 and their parents. Parental educational attainment was linked with family financial resources and with parental involvement with the adolescent's…

Reviewed 283 data-based articles containing material about Black Americans in the "Journal of Marriage and Family" from 1939-87 using a sociohistorical framework of analysis. Results indicated that focus on the culture-of-poverty thesis has been a prominent and obvious source of distortion in substantive research on Black families in America.…

A selected bibliography of studies which view Black families as having a unique and positive structure or as differing in life styles along class lines. (Author)

This paper uses Billingsley's typology to examine the association between family structures and functions. It is concluded that modifications of the typology would expand its utility, that detailed information about family structure reduces the chance of distortion and contributes to greater understanding, and that Billingsley overemphasized the…

Studies of Black families in varying social classes are reviewed to determine the prevailing power relationship between spouses. In general, Black families appear to be more egalitarian than White families; the middle-class Black family is more egalitarian than any other family type. (Author)

This paper is a contribution to a recent trend in the study of Afro-American behavior and social organization in which the emphasis is on adaptive strategies rather than social pathology. The paper explores the applicability of an adaptive model to an industrializing Jamaican town. (Author)

Compared physical violence rates in Black families (N=147) of 1975 First National Family Violence Survey and its 1985 replication (N=576). Compared Black family sample to general survey respondents (1975, N=2,143; 1985, N=6,002). Found decline in violence toward Black women, Black-to-White ratio increase for violence toward men and children, and…

Examined use by Black adults (N=1,322) of informal helpers during serious personal problems. Found network size predicted by age, gender, income, familial contact, and problem type. Discussed significance of informal network in providing assistance during personal crisis. (Author/CM)

Examined family support networks and operation of demographic and family network characteristics as determinants of assistance types (financial, emotional, child care) among single and married African-American mothers (n=620). Region, age, household structure, proximity to family, and kin affinity were significant predictors of assistance. Found…

This paper examines two competing perspectives which have influenced the study of Black families. The first perspective assumes that Black families are patterned after the dominant culture. The other perspective holds that at least part of Black family life is linked to African forms of culture. (Author)

Two surveys of ninth-grade black adolescents, one in 1963 and in 1973, were conducted in two metropolitan areas in the southeast using the same procedures to determine adolescent attitudes toward working wives as a threat to the marital relationship. Results are discussed. (Author)

Previous arguments that matriarchy is a myth in the black lower classes are reviewed and an additional argument is presented: the irrelevance of heretofore employed decision-making measures for lower-class blacks. (Author)