Family networks and emerging adulthood: The modern extended family

Abstract

Recent demographic shifts in the United States have substantially altered family structure. These shifts include an increase in the average life span, smaller family sizes, and changes in marriage patterns including individuals who never marry, divorce, remarry, and cohabitate (Silverstein & Giarruso, 2010; Wu, 2014). Taken together, these factors have resulted in increasingly complex family forms. These shifts in family structure have implications for family process including the quality of relationships across and within generations (Uhlenberg, 1996). Previous work has focused on examining relationship quality in the family of origin (e.g., parents and siblings). A potential consequence of focusing on families of origin is that researchers may overlook the role of other family systems including the extended family. Utilizing a population of 491 emerging adults (ages 18-25), I examined the association between characteristics of emerging adults (e.g., gender, closeness with family of origin, and romantic relationship status) and relationship quality (i.e., closeness and conflict) with extended family. I then evaluated how relationship quality (e.g., closeness and conflict) with extended family members is associated with emerging adults' well-being (i.e., selfacceptance and loneliness). In both papers, two measures for each relationship quality variable were created (average closeness, highest closeness, average conflict, highest conflict). Highest closeness and highest conflict were included to capture the extremes found within family relationships, and average closeness and average conflict were created to capture an overall assessment of relationship quality across all extended family members. Uhlenberg, P. (1996). Mortality decline in the twentieth century and supply of kin over the life course. The Gerontologist, 36(5), 681-685. van Velsor, P. R., & Cox, D. L. (2000). Use of the collaborative drawing technique in school counseling practicum: An illusion of family systems. Counselor Education and Supervision, 40(2), 141. Wilcox, W. B. (2010). When marriage disappears: The retreat from marriage in middle America. The state of our unions: Marriage in America, (pp. 13-60). Washington, DC: The Heritage Foundation. Wilson, M. N. (1986). The Black extended family: An analytical consideration. Developmental Psychology, 22(2), 246.

Young adults' perceptions of technology use with extended family

“…Young adulthood is a time when youth renegotiate their relationship with their parents and may begin to rely less on their parents to act as gatekeeper for these extended family relationships (Holst, 2017). This shift in gatekeeping of communication has the potential to be most pronounced as youth become viewed as having adult status in their family, with the accompanying responsibility to maintain relationships separate from their parents.…”

“…Therefore, it is important to examine the ways in which young adults themselves are communicating with their extended family members and roles these members play. However, despite their importance and lifelong quality, the limited research conducted on family communication using technology has focused on the nuclear family unit, often consisting of "traditional" family roles, such as communication between parents and their children or within intimate partner relationships (Holst, 2017). Although parent-child and intimate relationships are fundamental, there is a gap in our understanding of communication within the extended family network, broadly defined as nonparental and nonsibling family relationships.…”