The Elder in the Cuban American Family: Making Sense of the Real and Ideal

Abstract

Much of the literature on family networks of Hispanic elders in the United States assumes that the family is the natural support network without considering the structural, cultural, and psychosocial impact of immigration, or exile, on the family. However, there has been an increasing tendency of elder Cuban immigrants in the United States to live alone. With increasing mobility and varying degrees of acculturation across generations, it is important to understand how older people make sense of their rapidly changing familial life to themselves and to others. This paper compares the results of structured interviews of 79 Cuban elders in Miami-Dade County, Florida (U.S.) and focus groups on intergenerational relations held among a subset of fifteen of these elders using content analysis. Themes covered include desired family size, actual family size and its perceived effect, reasons for family size and roles of the family. The aim was to explore the ideal verses the real of Cuban elder family life and how elders themselves make sense of it. Results indicated that the ideal is larger families, but not co-residence. Migration and related economic necessity are understood as the primary reason for smaller families, as well as changes in intergenerational exchanges. The concept of the family, however, expands beyond the nuclear unit to include extended kin in the absence of co-residence and regular exchanges with children. The ideal family relations and perceived affect of migration on this dynamic were more likely to be expressed in the focus group setting than in the individual interviews.