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)

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)

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)

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)

Examined the impact of marital status on the global happiness of Black adults. Generally, married persons reported higher global happiness than nonmarried persons. The relationship held regardless of age, education, or structure of the respondents' family of orientation. Regression effects indicated that marital happiness and age are significant…

This research investigates the hypothesis that expressive aspects of sex-roles are learned in the early socialization of the child. Expressiveness of fondness, sadness, pleasure, and antipathy were operationalized by composite scales based upon responses to 16 Likert-type items, which were administered to 1190 high school students. (Author)

Used census data for U.S. metropolitan area African Americans to examine relationships of measures of sex ratio to each other and to indicators of family formation and family structure. Found that, when measures of sex ratio were properly formulated, they had strong associations with marriage prevalence; nonmarital fertility ratios; and prevalence…

Examined the relationship between marital status and overall life satisfaction among black Americans. For women, the married, widowed, and divorced are more satisfied with their lives than are the separated or single. However, when controls are introduced, these differences disappear. For men, the married are the least satisfied persons of any…

Investigates changes between 1973 and 1990 in degree to which African-American and white women have participated in labor force out of economic necessity versus preference for working outside the home. Found that women's motivations for participating in labor market began to converge toward those of men. Most reported working for other than…

Uses data from Cycle IV of the National Survey of Family Growth to evaluate whether adoption is feasible pregnancy resolution strategy for African-American teenagers. Results indicated that existing data do not provide sound basis for conclusions about whether adoption can ultimately serve as alternative to early child rearing for larger numbers…