Cohesion and Adaptability in Mexican-American and Anglo Families

Abstract

This article reports data from a community sample of Anglos and Mexican Americans concerning two dimensions of family functioning: cohesion and adaptability. The Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales-II (FACES) were used with a sample of 294 parents with school-age children who were taking part in a large community-based health promotion project. In addition, an acculturation measure was used in order to test for differences that might be attributable to intracultural variation among Mexican Americans. No significant differences in mean scores or distributions were detected between ethnic groups for cohesion or adaptability, even when acculturation was controlled. Next, a circumplex model was used to test for differences in distribution within a 16-cell matrix of family types. It was found that the distribution of scores for both ethnic groups fell predominantly within two quadrants of the model that predict well-functioning families during this stage of the life course (childrearing, with children reaching adolescence). Some differences were found in the distribution of scores into the three regions of the model (balanced, midrange, and extreme), with Anglos somewhat more likely to be represented in the balanced region and Mexican Americans more likely to be either midrange or extreme. However, tests for acculturation effects indicated that intracultural variation among Mexican Americans accounts for these differences, with low-acculturation respondents more likely to score outside of the balanced region. Implications of the findings are discussed within the explanatory framework of the circumplex model and related to national findings.