Race and Family Structure Stereotyping: Perceptions of Black and White Nuclear Families and Stepfamilies

Abstract

Previous studies of stereotyping have established that family structure is a cue by which individuals are stereotyped. This study builds on earlier work by adding the variables of race of respondent, family race, and parents' marital status to the analysis and by presenting family units (i.e., stepfamily, nuclear family) rather than family roles (e.g., stepmother, mother) as the trigger to elicit stereotypes. The sample consisted of 308 White and 178 Black students. Race of respondent and family structure of the stimulus families were significant; Black respondents in general rated families more positively, and the White stepfamily was rated less positively than were Black step or Black or White nuclear families. Parents' marital status and the family race of the vignette stimulus were not significant. There were also two sigificant two-way interactions (i.e., race of respondent by vignette family structure; and vignette family structure by vignette family race) and one significant three-way interaction (i.e., race by vignette family race by vignette family structure). Findings are discussed in terms of stereotyping theory.

How Society Views Stepfamilies

“…There have been very few investigations of the perceptions of stepfamilies as groups, but the limited findings we have indicate that stepfamilies are viewed less positively than most other family forms. For example, Bryant, Coleman, and Ganong (1988) found that stepfamilies were evaluated more negatively than nuclear families. In a more recent study, we asked college students to write what they believed to be culturally stereotyped attributes of nuclear families, single-parent families, and stepfamilies (Ganong & Coleman, 1996).…”