Racial and Gender Differences in Kin Support

Abstract

This article uses qualitative and quantitative data for a recent birth cohort from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study to compare kin support patterns between African Americans and Hispanics. It focuses on financial and housing support from grandparents and other kin during the transition to parenthood. Qualitative analysis ( n = 122 parents) uncovers distinctions in the way African American and Hispanic parents discuss their family networks, with African Americans emphasizing relations with female kin and Hispanics emphasizing a more integrated system. Consistent with these findings, quantitative analysis ( n = 2,472 mothers and n = 2,639 fathers) finds that compared with Hispanic parents, African American parents are more likely to receive financial and housing support from grandmothers and less likely to receive support from both grandparents. Contrary to expectations that fathers would be the primary support recipients in Hispanic households, the authors find that mothers are the more common recipients of support among African Americans and Hispanics.

Do Changes to Family Structure Affect Child and Family Outcomes? A Systematic Review of the Instability Hypothesis

“…Both Wu and Martinson (1993) and Fomby and Cherlin (2007) found greater evidence for the stress mediation effects for White children than for African American children. African American families-and Hispanic families to some degree-tend to feature women-centered kinship networks (Domínguez & Watkins, 2003;Haxton & Harknett, 2009) as well as considerable extended family involvement and high likelihood of extended family co-residence (Dunifon, Ziol-Guest, & Kopko, 2014;Landale, Oropesa, & Bradatan, 2006). Support networks that contain more extended kin and co-resident ties offer greater support resources, particularly for impoverished families (Kana'iaupuni, Donato, Thompson-Colón, & Stainback, 2005).…”

Ethnic/racial differences in the association between social support and levels of C‐reactive proteins in the North Texas Heart Study

“…This interdependent orientation is thought to increase the salience of close relationships processes across the lifespan with resulting influences on cognitive, emotional, and behavioral reactions to others (Markus & Kitayama, 1991). Consistent with this reasoning, Hispanic/Latinos and African Americans appear to utilize and have greater expectations for the family as a significant source of support (Haxton & Harknett, 2009; Taylor, Hernandez, Nicklett, Taylor, & Chatters, 2013), and interdependent cultures appear to benefit more from the perception that support will be available (Kim, Sherman, & Taylor, 2008). Although it is less clear if African Americans and Hispanic/Latinos differ from non-Hispanic Whites on overall perceptions of support (Fogel, Albert, Schnabel, Ditkoff, & Neugut, 2003), these data suggest that they are more sensitive to such social processes so that perceiving high levels of social support might be particularly beneficial for them (Uchino, 2004).…”

Parental Separation and School Performance Among Children of Immigrant Mothers in Sweden

“…In times of crisis—such as economic troubles or family disruption—these social networks help buffer the potentially adverse effects. In particular, groups may vary in how much grandmothers and other female kin provide help, either through intergenerational co-residence or otherwise (Haxton and Harknett 2009; Hunter 1997; Schans and Komter 2010). In the case of immigrants, access to support from kin especially can be limited by the fact that many immigrants’ kin do not live in the host country.…”