Family Scholars Research Articles

Engaging in literature review, synthesis, and meta‐analysis: A few considerations for family scholars

AbstractGiven their value, literature reviews and syntheses are featured in numerous family‐centered academic journals, including the flagship journals of the National Council on Family Relations. Although literature reviews and syntheses, including meta‐analyses, have been published in family‐centered academic journals for decades, the application of these methods to topics germane to family science has increased substantially over time. This trend—coupled with a desire to support the conduct of high‐quality literature reviews and syntheses in family science—prompted the development of this article, which aims to provide an efficient, didactic overview of common literature review and synthesis approaches, including meta‐analysis. This article also offers several considerations intended to support family scholars' efforts to develop strong literature reviews, syntheses, and meta‐analyses, particularly ones intended for publication in family‐centered academic journals. The skillful application of these methods will support family scholars' continued efforts to enrich, guide, and advance family science.

Understanding CRT and its implications for family science

AbstractFamily science has been slow to incorporate critical race theory (CRT) into research on family experiences and outcomes. Discussions of CRT often reduce it to one idea when it is comprised of several key tenets, including the social construction of race, racism as normal and commonplace, critiques of the liberal state, interest convergence, counterstorytelling, intersectionality and anti‐essentialism, and Whiteness as a form of property. CRT scholars share the aim of investigating the creation, maintenance, and reproduction of regimes of White supremacy that subordinate people of color, and how such regimes might be transformed. Responding to amplified attention to racial injustices and structural racism, The National Council on Family Relations journals published special issues in 2022, inviting family scholars to submit scholarship engaging with a range of critical frameworks examining racial inequities within families, including CRT. However, many family scientists have limited exposure to CRT in their training and know little about its origins, tenets, applications, and contributions to various disciplines. There is also little understanding of the consequences of not using CRT approaches to enhance our understanding of families and what can be gained from using it. This article describes CRT's origins and key tenets scholars use in their research alongside examples of family science and related research using CRT to examine the impact of structural racism and racial inequality on the family. The article concludes by discussing how a more robust and sustained engagement with the analytical, methodological, and theoretical frameworks of CRT would enhance our understanding of families.

The Illinois Strong Couples project: A proof of concept for sustainable, effective couples' programming

AbstractObjectiveThis proof‐of‐concept study presents findings from the Illinois Strong Couples project, a statewide initiative to disseminate an efficacious couple relationship education (CRE) program through a state Cooperative Extension System.BackgroundAmong family scholars, federally funded initiatives to disseminate CRE programming to couples have received strong support as well as equally strong opposition. The current study describes and evaluates a new dissemination approach designed to satisfy concerns from both sides of this debate.MethodThe sample comprised 340 individuals (170 couples) who participated in the online ePREP program with remote coaching and completed three survey assessments over 6 months.ResultsSignificant short‐ and long‐term improvements were observed in multiple dimensions of relationship functioning (e.g., declines in communication conflict, relationship instability concerns) and individual functioning (e.g., declines in psychological distress, sleep problems). Effect sizes, in general, were medium for relationship outcomes and small for individual outcomes. Greater attendance forecasted greater gains in relationship outcomes, particularly for men. Changes over time were generally similar irrespective of household income and, when evident, indicated greater improvement for lower‐income women compared to higher income.ConclusionFindings highlight the ability to disseminate effectively an evidence‐based CRE program within a state Extension system.ImplicationsThis project illustrates a sustainable and potentially scalable strategy to disseminate CRE programming that can complement other approaches for CRE dissemination as a means to promote relationship and individual well‐being among help‐seeking couples.

Methods and theory for analyzing intensive longitudinal data in family research

AbstractAlthough family scholars have long relied on longitudinal data, electronic methods of data collection like web‐ and app‐based surveys have greatly increased the amount of data with many repeated measures at short intervals, sometimes called intensive longitudinal data. The authors provide a conceptual overview of this type of data, paying particular attention to the appropriate frequency for the intervals, and discuss some of the unique contributions to Life Course Theory that can be generated with such data. They illustrate two analytic techniques that especially benefit from an intensive longitudinal design—sequence analysis and between‐within regression—by applying these methods to intensive longitudinal data from the Relationship Dynamics and Social Life Study that represent a “micro life course” of pregnancy risk (partnering, pregnancy desire, sex, and contraception) during the transition to adulthood. Their sequence analysis shows that singlehood, hormonal contraception, or partnered abstinence dominated most young women's micro‐life courses. Black/African‐American young women's micro life courses were similarly dominated by singlehood but were even more frequently dominated by partnered abstinence than their non‐Black/African‐American peers'. However, Black/African‐American women's micro life courses were less stable, potentially explaining their higher undesired pregnancy rates. A between‐within regression model shows that Black/African‐American coital contraceptors were less likely than their non‐Black/African‐American peers to use withdrawal (rather than condoms). They conclude by suggesting some potential ways that intensive longitudinal data capturing micro‐life courses can contribute to important outstanding research questions in family research.

Filial responsibilities and psychological wellbeing among Chinese adolescents in poor single-mother families: does parental warmth matter?

Adolescent children raised in single-mother households, particularly those living in poverty, often need to assume more instrumental and emotional familial responsibilities to cope with family challenges. This study examined the relationships between these filial responsibilities and adolescent psychological wellbeing, as well as the moderating effect of maternal warmth on these relationships via survey. The sample comprised 325 Chinese adolescent children (43.3% girls; Mage = 13.5) from economically disadvantaged single-mother families in Hong Kong. The results indicated that adolescents' instrumental filial responsibilities were positively associated with their life satisfaction. Emotional filial responsibilities, on the other hand, were positively linked to life satisfaction and negatively associated with depression. Furthermore, maternal warmth was found to moderate the relationship between emotional filial responsibilities and life satisfaction. Adolescents who perceived higher levels of maternal warmth and performed more emotional filial responsibilities reported greater life satisfaction than those who performed fewer such responsibilities. Furthermore, the moderating effect of maternal warmth on the relationship between instrumental filial responsibilities and life satisfaction varied between boys and girls. Additionally, the age of the adolescent moderated the effect of maternal warmth on the relationship between emotional filial responsibilities and adolescent anxiety. These findings suggest that filial responsibilities do not necessarily impede adolescent wellbeing. Instead, maternal warmth appears to be a crucial family factor that influences the nature of the relationship between filial responsibilities and adolescent wellbeing. These insights are valuable for family scholars and practitioners, informing the design of supportive services to enhance the psychological wellbeing of Chinese adolescents from economically disadvantaged single-mother families.

Trans family systems framework: Theorizing families' gender investments and divestments in cisnormativity

AbstractObjectiveThis article calls on family scholars to take seriously how families are invested and divested in maintaining and reproducing cisnormativity.BackgroundFamilies can be a prime institution for the reproduction of cisnormativity. For transgender and nonbinary family members, families' investment in cisnormativity can generate ambiguous and toxic familial relations. Yet, family studies have not developed an adequate framework to examine how and why cisnormativity operates within families.MethodThe authors engage with empirical and theoretical work on gender, intersectionality, and families to examine how cisnormativity operates within family dynamics and processes. This article also focuses on work about trans people and families to capture how cisnormative processes within families affect trans people's familial relations.ResultsThe authors advance a trans family systems framework to show how families' cisgender investments and divestments shape familial processes. The concept of cisnormative compliance is introduced to capture the beliefs and practices of obedience established by family members for the purpose of reproducing cisnormativity. Family studies can move forward in studying these cisnormative processes through documenting how gender accountability shapes family dynamics, implementing new methods, furthering an intersectional analysis, and exploring complexities of space and place.ConclusionTo reimagine gender and families, family scholars need to study and foreground how cisnormativity shapes family dynamics and processes.

Defining and measuring family: Lessons learned from LGBTQ+ people and families

AbstractObjectiveThis essay discusses the challenges and opportunities of defining family in the context of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) people.BackgroundLGBTQ+ people and their families remain at the forefront of novel family scholarship. Interrogating methodological approaches to defining family are critical for overcoming the continued marginalization and misrepresentation of LGBTQ+ family scholarship.MethodWe review and present select literature to frame the current challenges and subsequent opportunities for advancing LGBTQ+ family scholarship through the conceptual and methodological defining of family.ResultsFramed in a U.S. context, we discuss the oppressive and emancipatory consequences that have occurred through the project of defining family. We then highlight current challenges of defining LGBTQ+ families, emphasizing data inclusion and measurement considerations that arise when grappling with the methodological complexities of LGBTQ+ people versus LGBTQ+ families, chosen families and fictive kin, LGBTQ+ children in families, and consensually non‐monogamous relationships. Throughout, we present opportunities to address current shortcomings within family scholarship regarding LGBTQ+ families. We end with clear and pointed steps on how family researchers can integrate practical but nevertheless influential strategies to advance and enrich LGBTQ+ family research through intentional reflections on research design, sampling, and measurement.ConclusionDespite progress, family scholarship alongside current social events entreats a more intentional commitment from family scholars to measure and advocate for data and methods that properly illuminate (LGBTQ+) family life.

The digitalization of family life: A multilevel conceptual framework

AbstractThe internet and digital technologies have penetrated all domains of people's lives, and family life is no exception. Despite being a characterizing feature of contemporary family change, the digitalization of family life has yet to be systematically theorized. Against this backdrop, this article develops a multilevel conceptual framework for understanding the digitalization of family life and illustrates the framework by synthesizing state‐of‐the‐art research from multiple disciplines across global contexts. At a micro level, as individuals “do” family online, digitalization influences diverse aspects of family practices, including family formation, functioning, and contact. How individuals “do” family online is not free‐floating but embedded in macro‐level economic, sociocultural, and political systems underpinning processes of digitalization. Bridging the micro–macro divide, family‐focused online communities serve as a pivotal intermediary at the meso level, where people display family life to, and exchange family‐related support with, mostly nonfamily members. Meso‐level online communities are key sites for forming and diffusing collective identities and shared family norms. Bringing together the three levels, the framework also considers cross‐level interrelations to develop a holistic digital ecology of family life. The article concludes by discussing the contributions of the framework to understanding family change and advancing family scholarship in the digital age.

Qualitative family research: Innovative, flexible, theoretical, reflexive

AbstractQualitative research is increasingly part of the methodological repertoire of scholars who study families. In this article, we examine contemporary trends, tensions, and possibilities for the interdisciplinary enterprise of qualitative research on and about families. We situate our collaborative approach as critical family scholars who pursue social justice work. We then examine four trends that have recently emerged or evolved in qualitative family research. First, we address methodological innovations associated with the pervasive emergence of online technologies and their possibilities for enhanced sample selection, data collection, and data analysis. Second, we address the potential for qualitative methodological orthodoxy to become rigidly embedded as a result of relying on a formulaic approach and instead we advocate for a continued commitment to analytic flexibility, which has characterized qualitative family research since its inception. Third, we emphasize the interlocking relationship between qualitative family research and the process of theorizing. Fourth, we highlight the potential of reflexivity—not simply in positionality statements, but throughout the qualitative knowledge production process. We conclude with guidance for scholars, reviewers, editors, and readers in utilizing and assessing excellent qualitative family research—research that embodies one or more of these trends of innovation, flexibility, theoretically driven, and reflexivity.

Impact of growth, inequality and the Family Grant Program (PBF) on Brazil's poverty

The objective of this article is to analyze the effects of economic growth, inequality and the Bolsa Família Program (PBF) on poverty indices in Brazil. To do so, a dynamic panel model was used, estimated by the method of generalized moments for a two-step system, developed by Blundel-Bond (1998). The results show that spending on the family scholarship had no impact on poverty rates in Brazil. It is also found that policies of economic growth that promote an increase in income in conjunction with the reduction of its disparities are preferable to those that prioritize only the increase of the average income in the fight against poverty in Brazil.

The influence of resourcefulness on the family functioning of young- and middle-aged lymphoma patients in China: a cross-sectional study.

Lymphoma has become 1 of the 10 most common cancers with increased prevalence in young- and middle-aged adults in China. This poses a tremendous burden on patients and their families and brings great challenges to maintaining the balance of family functioning in young- and middle-aged patients. This cross-sectional study aimed to analyse the influence of resourcefulness on the family functioning of Chinese young- and middle-aged lymphoma patients. A total of 172 Chinese young- and middle-aged patients with lymphoma were recruited from the oncology departments of two tertiary hospitals in Zhengzhou, Henan, China. They were invited to complete a survey that included a demographic questionnaire, the Resourcefulness Scale and the Chinese Version Family Adaptability and Cohesion Scale II. Multiple linear regression was used to analyse the related factors for family functioning. The multiple regression analysis revealed that the main influencing factors of family cohesion were resourcefulness (β = 0.338, 95% CI (0.072, 0.173)), spouse caregiver (β = 0.376, 95% CI (1.938, 10.395)), and cancer stage (β = -0.274, 95% CI (-3.219, -1.047)). Resourcefulness (β = 0.438, 95% CI (0.096, 0.181)), spouse caregiver (β = 0.340, 95% CI (1.348, 8.363)), and family per capita monthly income (β = 0.157, 95% CI (0.066, 2.243)) were the influencing factors of family adaptability. Healthcare professionals and family scholars should value young- and middle-aged lymphoma patients' family functioning throughout the cancer treatment process, and family interventions should be designed by healthcare providers based on patients' resourcefulness. Moreover, healthcare providers need to pay attention to the risk factors of patients' family cohesion and adaptability, such as low family per capita monthly income, and consider employing corresponding measures to help them.

Measurement opportunities for studying sexual and gender diverse partnerships in population-based surveys.

This article outlines for family scholars and researchers designing surveys or searching for data on sexual and gender-diverse (SGD) families the latest methodological advancements in United States population-based surveys for studying SGD partnerships by reviewing five recently collected, publicly available, population-representative data sets. LGBTQIA+ adults and SGD partnerships are an expanding demographic group in the United States. Yet, measurement limitations have restricted studies of these partnerships that use population-based studies. To address this issue, researchers designing population-representative data collections have adopted new strategies to measure SGD partnerships accurately. However, most population representative surveys continue to lack data on growing segments of the LGBTQIA+ population by relying solely on the sex of partners or limited sexual and gender identity measures. We recommend expanding population-based surveys to incorporate inclusive measures of sexual and gender identity, directly asking about the gender composition of a couple and measurement of cohabiting and other nonmarital relationships. These approaches are especially important for understanding relationships among younger populations who do not follow heteronormative relationship trajectories and hold diverse gender and sexual identities. Although the research opportunities on SGD individuals and partnerships are expanding; researchers must remain mindful of the limitations of current data sets and advocate for updates to the United States population data infrastructure.

Using experiments to study families and intimate relationships

AbstractSocial scientists increasingly are using experiments to examine causal processes and mechanisms in their research. Yet, experiments work much better for some research aims than others. Some goals that are of great interest to family scholars, such as testing theoretical arguments, are well‐suited to experimental approaches; other goals, such as documenting real‐world experiences, may be best served by another research design. Our aim in this article is to discuss the power and limits of experimental methods for the study of family, with an emphasis on describing the types of topics and approaches that work best in an experimental framework. We begin by briefly reviewing the current state of the literature and the types of experiments that are commonly used to study families and intimate relationships. We discuss recent examples and “best practices” to illustrate the potential strengths of experiments for the study of family. After walking through an in‐depth example of an experimental research design, we describe some unresolved theoretical puzzles in the family literature from the previous mid‐decade review that seem ripe for experimental study. In doing so, we demonstrate that experiments, when used appropriately, can provide powerful evidence of causal mechanisms that resonate with scholarly audiences and the public.

Racial disparities without racism: Some conceptual & analytical considerations

AbstractMost studies on racial inequality begin with a series of statistics highlighting racial variations in an outcome of interest to illustrate how wide (or narrow) the gaps between racialized groups are. This approach is standard in racial inequality research because emphasizing racial differentials between racialized groups helps researchers frame inequality as a social problem. Scholars across academic disciplines and across sub‐areas within sociology report racial statistics to pay attention to what social scientists refer to as racial disparities. Presenting racial disparities is extremely important for documenting inequality; however, family scholars tend to provide descriptive statistical portraits along ethno‐racial lines (disparities) in the absence of racism, which, in turn, conceals the United States' racialized historical context. In other words, reporting racial inequality as disparities without addressing racism is a critical omission in family science research. Emphasizing racism is important because biological explanation still permeates the American imagination about racial inequality. The purpose of this paper is to provide conceptual and analytical considerations for future racial inequality and family research by recasting disparities as manifestations of racism instead of mere statistical differences. To illustrate the conceptual considerations, I first build on Williams' theoretical model focusing on structural racism and Black family life. I expand on how racism not only makes the idea of race possible but also manifests in observable, measurable outcomes. In the second section, I present an analytical consideration for understanding Black families' inequality by focusing on within‐group analyses. These conceptual and analytical considerations serve as ways to adequately represent Black families and children in the US.

Caste and Black intergenerational racial trauma in the United States of America.

The United States (U.S.) racial caste system and White dominance began in slavery, culminating in Black intergenerational racial trauma. Until recently, Black intergenerational racial trauma largely was ignored by family scholars and therapists. Given that Black intergenerational racial trauma is inseparable from racial caste in the United States, it should be regarded as a wider, systemic problem, requiring intervention at the micro (e.g., family) and macro (e.g., society) levels. The U.S. dominant White society's investment in conserving racial caste furthers the ideological (e.g., political) and sentimental (e.g., democratic ideals) nullification of Black intergenerational racial trauma. Therefore, Black intergenerational racial trauma is often disenfranchised and can hamper Black people's experience of racial trauma as a collective. As passive bystanders, family scholars and therapists are co-conspirators in the long, enduring suffering of Black people. As advocates, family scholars and therapists are called upon to name the racial hierarchy in the United States as a caste system and to advance Black humanization. Specifically, Wilkerson's (Caste: The origins of our discontents. Random House, 2020) notion of the U.S. racial hierarchy as a functioning caste system frames the discussion of Black intergenerational racial trauma and includes the following topics: Black racial trauma, disenfranchised Black intergenerational racial trauma, collective Black intergenerational racial trauma, Black intergenerational racial trauma and the U.S. academy (traditionally White institutions of higher learning), history and its impact on Black intergenerational racial trauma, the Black body and racial trauma, intersectionality and the U.S. caste system, and collective hope and resilience.

Marriage: an institution you cannot disparage? Evidence on the marriage norms of entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurship research increasingly acknowledges marriage as an important resource for long-term commitment to entrepreneurial ventures. At the same time, family scholars emphasize the deinstitutionalization of marriage in many countries, meaning that marriage as formalized and long-term companionship has lost importance. We contend that outdated ideological positions in entrepreneurship studies on marriage potentially obscure the more complex reality of the marriage norms of entrepreneurs. Using representative panel data from Germany, our study demonstrates that there is substantial heterogeneity among marriage norms internalized by entrepreneurs in various contexts. While entrepreneurs, on average, are less likely to internalize companion marriage norms than the general population, family entrepreneurs are significantly more likely to internalize companion marriage norms. We provide new insight into the link between marriage norms and entrepreneurship and open promising new areas of inquiry with regard to social norms and entrepreneurial activity.

Beyond mothers' time in childcare: Worlds of care and connection in the early life course.

Family scholars examining time spent on children's care focus heavily on mothers' allocations to a specific sphere of active caregiving activities. But children's needs for care and supervision involve connection to others; and many others beyond mothers can and do provide care, especially as children grow. Using a "linked lives" approach that centers relationality, we show how time diaries can illuminate children's time spent in "socially connected" care. Using recent (2014-2019) time diary data from the American and the United Kingdom Time Use Surveys, we examine mothers', children's, and teenagers' days to assess two forms of connected care time. First, results show that in addition to childcare time as traditionally measured by time use studies, mothers spend considerable further time providing connected care through social and community time in which children are included, religious activities with their children present, and mealtime with children. Second, looking from the child's perspective also underscores time in the larger "village" of carers within which children and youth are embedded. Fully two-thirds of 8-14-year-olds' and three-quarters of 15-17-year-olds' waking time is not with mothers-it is spent alone or in social connection to fathers, extended family, teachers, neighbors, and friends. A "linked lives" approach shifts attention to assessing care time in diverse activities with others and to measuring mothers' and children's time in social connections within the larger world. This analytic frame also moves away from maternal determinism to highlight the contours of children's care and social time occurring within the community at large, as well as the roles and responsibilities of those outside of the mother-child dyad across the child's early life course.

The Spillover of Parenting Stress Onto Marital Qualities and Communication During Parenting Disagreements: A Relational Turbulence Theory Perspective

ABSTRACT This study engages relational turbulence theory to examine relationship functioning and communication among parents of teenagers. The hypotheses assessed associations between relational uncertainty and disrupted interdependence, and communication during conflict episodes related to childrearing, and considered parenting stress and coparenting alliance as antecedents of relationship parameters. Married, parents of teen children (n = 349) reported their relationship experiences, parenting stress, and coparenting alliance. Then, parents recalled a recent disagreement with their spouse related to their teen and reported their communication tactics during the conversation. The results suggested that parenting stress was positively associated with relational uncertainty and interference from a partner, which in turn, predicted more negative conflict communication. Coparenting alliance was negatively associated with relational uncertainty and partner interference, and positively associated with facilitation from a partner. Parenting stress attenuated the relationship between coparenting alliance and relationship parameters. Implications for relational turbulence theory, family scholars, and parents of teens are discussed.

Invested Mothering: An Intersectional Analysis of Mothers’ Feminized Breadwinning Strategies Under State-Mandated Child Support Arrangements

This article conceptualizes invested mothering to explain how mothers typically serve as both primary caregivers and financial providers under court-mandated shared parenting. A line of feminist literature has conceptualized hegemonic expectations of women’s caregiving through the umbrella theory of intensive mothering, and family scholars have studied how these ideologies influence parental investments in children. I assert that more research is necessary at the juncture of this scholarship, especially in contemporary family forms which reflect most parents’ reality. In this study, I analyze 46 in-depth interviews with parents under state-mandated child support arrangements as an empirical case of shared parenting experiences. I show that the onus is on mothers to secure financial resources for children’s basic and enrichment needs through relational, paid, and invisible work strategies—mothers enact invested mothering. An intersectional analysis reveals the distinct invested parenting work that mothers, especially low-income Black mothers who are the most disadvantaged, perform as adaptive strategies in the face of interlocking sexism, systemic racism, and historical economic inequality. Overall, mothers’ financial role as primary breadwinners is feminized as their contributions are unsupported, unacknowledged, and undervalued by both the courts and fathers.

Studying stepfamilies, surfacing secrets: A reflection on the private motivations behind efforts to humanize family complexity

AbstractFeminist family scholars have long called for greater transparency of the partial perspectives embedded within family science. In this paper, I employ feminist reflexive autoethnography to unpack the private motivations that guide my research on family complexity. Using critical storytelling, I trace the personal developments that led to a research program on structurally complex families—families shaped and reshaped by divorce, separations, repartnerships, and remarriages. I explore my commitments to naming the invisible, embracing the messy, and ultimately, humanizing the complicated and meaningful emotions and relationships in families navigating structural changes. I draw upon personal, embodied experiences to theorize about issues and phenomena that have yet to be named in the (step)family scholarship. Finally, I invite others to heed the calls of feminist scholars whose work invites us to consider how private experiences can be leveraged to generate new insights into the complexities of family and social life.