Traditional Family Patterns Research Articles

Marriage and Family Instability in Modern Kenya: The Case of Western Kenya

Marriage institution has provided the anchorage and the rationale for Africa to be termed as the ‘continent of the family’. This coveted identity is however, in total decline given the new realities and circumstances surrounding the institution. This is occasioned by family instability in which most marriages no longer hold. Traditional African family patterns are slowly but progressively being altered as a result of modernization. Family patterns that were the norm in African societies are gradually being altered and substituted by modern values and the vows common in churches ‘until death do we part’ are no-longer tenable. Changes in the African family is being felt in fertility rates, are at marriage, marriage patterns and marital stability. Based on opportunistic sampling that conveniently selected 26 maternal dyads (consisting of mothers and their daughters who are married with at least two children) within the Western Kenya region, the study examined through in-depth interviews, the trends that depict family patterns in Kenya. It teased out two key issues connected with the African family patterns that is marriage and familial stability with the goal of illuminating the changes that are characterizing their prevalence. The comparative study between the mothers and their daughters regarding the nature of their marriages and the effects on familial stability concludes that marriage is under siege and innovative processes are needed to change the tide since the present generation are too casual in their marital relationship and the institution is fast losing its grip.

Love and Gender Relations from the Perspective of Familism: Based on Fieldwork in Contemporary Rural North Zhejiang

Abstract In response to the academic debate about the “individualization” of the patterns of love and marriage in contemporary China, this article takes the spousal selection and marriage and love practices of peasants in northern Zhejiang since China’s reform and opening up as the basis of field study, and explores the roles and functions of love and gender relations and their relationship to ethical factors in the overall process of “spousal selection→marriage→family→giving birth.” We also find that although the “love” factor has become more and more important in the marriage practice of recent generations (especially among rural women) and has even become an indispensable key to starting marital family life, it has not fully established its own independent space and value. It has in fact been boosted, guided, and controlled by, and incorporated into, the traditional marriage and family pattern. This traditional pattern, with its own unique resilience, has integrated love into the family life cycle, gradually pulling it into the orbit of traditional marriage and family, and successfully carrying on the “sacred undertaking” of the ancestors. This overall characteristic is more pronounced in developed eastern coastal villages (among young women) than in less developed central and western rural areas (among young women). In terms of theory and methodology, the “individualization” of love and marriage among contemporary Chinese peasants needs to be put back into the framework of “familism” for in-depth reflection, rather than simply being understood from the standpoint of “individualization” and from the binary opposition between “individualism” and “familism.”

Beşinci Çocuk adlı romanda geleneksel aile yapısının alt üst edilmesi

The main objective of this paper is to study the novel called the Fifth Child (1988) by Doris Lessing from a cultural materialist perspective in terms of reflecting the subversion of the traditional family pattern, creating alternative family structure instead of it and eliminating gender roles imposed on women and men. According to cultural materialist theory, meaning is created culturally and some stories or some representations are tried to be more plausible than others. In this regard, the Fifth Child will show how Victorian morality and values were understood and subverted in the 1980s when Margaret Thatcher was the Prime Minister of Britain. This novel is chosen to be studied from this perspective because there is a wish for returning back to Victorian values in 1980s in the novel represented by the couple of Harriet and David. They get married and have children by sticking their gender roles imposed on them by Victorian morality. That is, David is the money provider and Harriet is looking after children and doing households in a Victorian house. Although hegemonic ideologies of Victorian morality such as emphasis on the gender roles and on the family bond exist in this period they are challenged and subverted with the birth of the fifth child called Ben into the family. As a result, the subversion of family bond with the coming of Ben and the subversion of gender roles with Harriet who brings Ben back against the consent of her husband will be illustrated in the paper.

Croatian Migrant Families: Local Incorporation, Culture, and Identity

So far, Croatian migrant families have been predominantly studied within the scope of theoretical questions oriented toward ethnicity and their role as the guardians of ethnic/national identity. Going beyond the ethnic lens of those studies, the article focuses on an exploration of family structures and the social functioning of wider kinship networks in the migration context as well as an understanding of how migrants conceive of ethnic/national identity. By highlighting the complex entanglements of traditional family patterns (patrilocality, seniority, and gender roles), transnational kinship networks and “a little tradition of ethnic/national identity” held by migrants, this article seeks to establish autonomous research into family processes among Croatian migrants and to make a rapprochement between classical anthropological research of family and kinship and migration studies.

Family houses – building an intergenerational space in post-apartheid Namibia

ABSTRACT This qualitative study presents how intergenerational relationships have spatially shaped the former apartheid township Kuisebmond in Walvis Bay, Namibia. The apartheid housing, which was designed for nuclear families, now accommodates multiple generations. People in different age cohorts are distributed differently in space. People in late later life lived in the former township housing units, whilst people in early later life lived in backyard shacks or other rentals. Certain patterns of cohabitation with younger relatives were discernible. It is highly likely that the extended family will be an important facet of Namibian urban life in the foreseeable future, since traditional family patterns have been interpreted in an urbanised form. It is of great importance that housing can accommodate various versions of the extended family, necessary for family existence and intergenerational obligations of resource pooling.

Decoupling African Traditional Religion and Culture from the Family Life of Africans: Calculated Steps in Disguise

Even though African Traditional Religion and Cultural family life seem to have been detached from the indigenous Africans, with many reasons accounting for such a detach, the attempts made by the new wave of Christianity is paramount, under the cloak of salvation and better life. The paper focuses on the steps taken by Pentecostal-Charismatics in Africa to decouple African Traditional Religion and Culture from the family life of Africans in a disguised manner. The paper begins with the retrospection of African Traditional Religion as the religion with belief of the forefathers concerning the existence of the Supreme Being, divinities, Spirit beings, Ancestors, and mysterious powers, good and evil and the afterlife. It then walks readers through the encounter between Christianity and ATR and come out that Christianity from its earliest history has maintained a negative attitude toward ATR. The paper again explores that the traditional understanding of the African family system is portrayed in the common believe system and the functions of the family com-ponents. Again, the paper further unravels decoupling measures such as reaching the masses for audience, demonization of African the world of the spirit, demonization of African elders, pastors as-suming the traditional position of elders of African families are the factors that are being taken to ensure the taking away of African traditional religious and family life from Africans. The paper again discusses the adverse effects of these decoupling factors on Africans. The paper concludes that Traditional African family patterns are slowly but progressively being altered as a result of the process of the decoupling strategies.

Not all the same: Swedish teenage mothers' and fathers' selection into early family formation trajectories.

Previous research has focused on teenage parenthood as a single outcome, and has overlooked the wider family formation trajectory in which it is situated. In this paper, using Swedish register data and sequence analysis tools, we explore the diversity in timing and ordering of childbearing and (re)partnering events among teenage parents. We identify trajectory clusters of traditional family patterns, modern family patterns, single parenthood and re-partnering patterns. We also examine the role of resources in the family of origin for the probability of following the different types of family formation trajectories among teenage parents. Where economic resources in the family of origin is related to the type of trajectory teenage fathers follow, family structure is of greater importance for teenage mothers. The family formation trajectories of teenage parents display substantial heterogeneity, which contradicts a view that a person who has a child early in life suddenly has their life's script written.

Gender Differences in the Effect of Family Structure on Educational Outcomes Among Nigerian Youth

Due to globalization, sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is experiencing some changes in her traditional family patterns. A large body of research has examined the relationship between family structure and youth developmental outcomes and few studies have reported the gender differentials in the effect of changing family structure on these outcomes. In an increasingly knowledge-based globalized world, educational achievement is critical for the development of youth. This exploratory study examines the gender differences in the effect of family structure on educational outcomes of youth in Nigeria. We used the 2010 Nigeria General Household Survey which is available through Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS)–International, consisting of 14,178 males and 13,858 females. Family structure was a significant predictor of youth educational outcomes, and there were significant gender differentials. There was a negative relationship between living with neither parent and ever enrolling among males and females, but the effect was much stronger for females. Interventions should focus on improving existing resources and place youth who are living with neither parents and are unmarried in stable and friendly environments through mentorship programs and community caregiver support. Programs should also engage community leaders continuously about the consequences of early marriages among female youth.

Career Priority and Motivation for Achievement of female Academicians: The Work-family conflict

The relationship between work and family seeks attention within the last 20 years in relation to the significant changes that occur in the workforce resulting in changes in family structure and the nature of the work. Professionally aspiring women, on the other hand, were much less likely to choose a family accommodated pattern; they were more likely to choose one of the career-centered life styles. Changes to the family and the working environment are caused by both the increasing participation of women in the workforce, as well as the growing number of married couples having dual income. The pattern of dual earning families began to replace the traditional family pattern as the dominant family model, thereby causing a shift in family models. This literature study aims at exploring this in Indian context. This paper attempts to address the challenges for career women in teaching profession and the family dynamics that act as performance constraints.

A matter of love and labour? Parents working as personal assistants for their adult disabled children

The overall aim was to explore experiences of parents working as personal assistants (PAs) for their adult disabled children, with a focus on the roles of these parents and the intersection between formal and informal support. In 1994, the right to personal assistance was introduced in Sweden. The intention was to promote disabled people’s independence and participation in society. Many users combine personal assistance from family members with non-family assistance. Employing parents of adult children as PAs has been depicted as a barrier to independence and adulthood, but can also be seen as lessening potential difficulties of having ‘strangers’ deliver support in the private sphere. Welfare policies and social work practices have a major impact on the lives of families with disabled children. Fourteen parents working as PAs for their adult children were interviewed. For the parents, pursuing an employee role outside the home was very difficult to combine with the caring role. Shortcomings in the formal support system and battles with social services to receive adequate and appropriate support were experienced as burdensome. Families with disabled members were forced into very traditional family patterns and found themselves interwoven into a complex fabric of emotional and economic interdependence.

Work Family Conflict: A Review of Female Teachers in Indonesia

The pattern of dual earning families began to replace the traditional family pattern as the dominant family model, thereby causing a shift in family models. Traditional family patterns, characterized by the role of men as breadwinner and the role of women as the one taking care of the household. In this globalize world, both men and women play a dual role as parents and workers. Recent research on work-family conflict (hereinafter referred to as WFC) ignores those in teaching profession. In reality, WFC can occur in all professions, not to exclude teachers and educators Studies on WFC have such important value because they reveal the relationship among work, family life, health, and general well-being of employees. This literature study aims at exploring WFC that occurs among female teachers in the Indonesian context. This paper also adressed that WFC occurs in female teachers as to provide understanding on WFC as a work and performance constraints.

The Doctor and the Elderly

Specialism in medicine is an inevitable accompaniment of modern life and one of the newest specialties is Geriatrics (or as many of us would prefer — medicine). Medical specialties develop for a variety of reasons, for example, the specialty of renal diseases has grown out of the great technical advances in diagnosis and treatment in recent years. Other specialties have developed more gradually as the total body of relevant knowledge has accumulated, for example, cardiology and neurology. Other specialties have appeared as a direct response to the needs of the community, and this is the category into which we place medicine. With the increasing numbers of old people consequent upon the much higher proportion who survive to old age, the needs of the elderly have escalated and it has been necessary to attempt to deal with this crisis in different and sometimes novel ways. At the same time as numbers of old people have been increasing, many of the traditional family patterns of care have been eroded by social alterations, and so we have both demographic and social reasons for a geriatric crisis” . It is commonplace now to find that the married daughter (in her 30’s or 40’s) is unable to afford her mother more than token support because she herself is in paid employment and only available for housewifely and family tasks in the evening. The result has been a great increase in declared demand for services for the elderly. Nor is this the whole story, because many studies in different areas of the Western World have shown that old people's needs are often unknown until a crisis occurs (a fall, an acute infection, a stroke, or sometimes simply illness of a custodial relative or neighbour) and the situation is then found to be very advanced and perhaps irreversible and preventable sequelae have occurred.

ЗНАЧИМОСТЬ УСЛУГ ДЕТСКОГО САДА КАК СОЦИАЛЬНОГО ИНСТИТУТА

The author describes the multi-subject practice towards childcare. The empirical basis of the study is an opinion poll conducted in November 2012 among 388 Moscow residents who have three-to-five-year-old children. According to the results of the survey, traditional family patterns such as distribution of housework between spouses, the presence of two breadwinners and assignment of childcare to women are still preserved in Russian families. The childcare responsibilities are not distributed equally between the parents: women`s contribution to childcare exceeds men`s contribution five-fold. Thus, women`s work time and job search are dependent on the kindergarten schedule. Kindergarten is an effective childcare institution because it allows both parents returning to their labor activity. This institution is not only a pre-school institution but also functions as a tool to decrease the gap between men and women and to equalize the gender roles.

The family structure and cultural practices of Garo community in Bangladesh: An overview

The Garo is one of the marginalised ethnic minority groups in Bangladesh originally migrated from Tibet. They have been living in the different areas of Bangladesh for few centuries with mainstream Bengali community. However, they hold distinct cultural tradition and social system not consistent with mainstream Bengali people although they frequently interact with each other. Based on ethnographic study, the present paper argues that although Garo’s traditional family pattern and cultural practices are changing gradually largely because of frequent interaction with mainstream Bengali people and influence of Christianity, traditional norms and practices still dominate their family and cultural life to a considerable extent.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/hjsa.v5i0.7042 Himalayan Journal of Sociology & Anthropology-Vol. V (2012) 95-110

Changes of marital behavior and family patterns in post-socialist countries: Delayed, incomplete or specific second demographic transition?

The paper starts by questioning the theory of second demographic transition (SDT) and its universal relevance in the field of marriage behavior and family organization in low fertility context, arguing for more differentiated approaches. With an aim to illustrate the contextual specifics of post-socialist countries in general and of Serbia in particular, the author claims that analyzed changes have not just been delayed or incomplete in comparison to more developed European countries, but shaped by specific modernization processes, which led to rationally developed strategies in overcoming structural risks, although, without ideational changes typical to the theory of SDT. Slow changes in marital behavior and family organization in Serbia are illustrated in recent sociological (empirical) research findings. The perceived changes are linked to specific structural risks (war, slow transformation and enduring economic hardships, weak state and low trust in institutions, etc) and value characteristics (persistence of materialism and traditionalism, but with increasing ambivalence). The connection between structural and ideational changes is considered through social stratification variable by relying on Coale's model on necessary preconditions for behavioral changes as well as on social deprivation concept. Having in mind upper social strata (more educated and better off), the value changes precede the behavioral that are adapted to economic uncertainty, which still force more traditional marital and family patterns. Therefore, there is a rank of different options, from extended family (for a short period at the beginning of marriage or after divorce) to separated leaving (of married partners) in parental households (due to refusing the extended family option thus creating quite specific "living apart together" form), combined with dominant strategy of prolonging the marriage. Hence, for upper social strata, marriage is still a universal but negotiable institution since more alternative options (although attractive and in accordance to changing values) are deemed irrational (have no obvious benefit). As regards the lower social strata (less educated and worse off), marriage is more in accordance with their higher inclination to traditional values, but general value liberalization legitimizes possible failures (divorces, extra marital births), which, even if not desired or economically rational, happen due to lower capacity to command life. For that reason, cohabitations and extra marital births are more common among actors at the lower end of the stratification ladder. The paper concludes that adaptive strategies related to traditional patterns of family organization dominate in Serbia, which might be illustrated by the fact that every third of one parent families lives in extended families. Even with significant structural changes (and economic improvements) in Serbia in the near future it is realistic to expect familism as an influential context, which suggests the spreading of cohabitation primarily as a pre- marital option (but more desired than forced).

Young adults’ family and housing life-stage transitions during post-communist transition in the South Caucasus

This paper reports evidence from surveys in 2007 which gathered life-history information since age 16 from samples totalling 1215 31–37-year-olds in the capital cities and regional centres of the three South Caucasus countries – Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Following this quantitative survey in which all questions were closed, there were 20 in-depth follow-up interviews with between four and eight respondents per country. The evidence shows that there had been just one dominant and by implication normative family formation sequence, which was to marry, to become a parent (which usually followed marriage very quickly), and then to remain married. It is argued that the dominant family formation sequence was being held in place partly by the older generation's control of housing, and, indeed, the young adults’ long-term chances of obtaining their own places. However, while in one sense a constraint, prolonged co-residence with the older generation was also a rational choice of young adults who needed family assistance in child-rearing, and in contexts where the viability of households depended on maintaining multiple income streams. Thus, having survived and, in some ways, having been consolidated during communism, traditional family patterns were proving resilient in the South Caucasus in the post-communist age.

Housework and Gender Inequality in European Countries

The article focuses on the impact of religion and technological developments on the sharing of domestic work in European countries. Religious beliefs and practices have a significant impact on gender roles, as those who are more religious are more likely to support traditional gender work division. Some religions are more likely to encourage traditional family patterns, with the Christian Orthodox tradition having the most conservative views on gender roles, while Protestants are the most liberal. On the other hand, technological development has a direct impact on housework, by reducing the total amount of time dedicated to the domestic chores and by increasing the women's involvement in the formal labour market. Previous studies have provided explanations based either on relative resources theory, gender ideology or by combining them with some countries characteristics such as welfare regime or gender equality, when predicting a partner's contribution to chores. Using multi-level regression models, we will test the effect of country's level of technological development and of religious orientation on housework division in 24 European countries. The analysis reveals the importance of country's technological development, religious culture, and individual religious beliefs.

Liberal family law in the making: Nordic and European harmonisation

This paper discusses the past and contemporary legal harmonisation exercises of family law in the Nordic countries and Europe. The critique is that the harmonised ‹European family law’ only entrenches the status quo and reiterates traditional family patterns, the male norm, heteronormativity, and a public/private divide represented in the neutral guise of a liberal rights discourse. Furthermore, the critics point out that the political economy of legal harmonisation is, to a large extent, ignored. In the Nordic countries, egalitarianism and broad political deliberation characterised much of the previous legal harmonisation, whereas rights discourse in its liberal sense is a novelty, more or less triggered by the European integration. This paper discusses the gendered implications of the emerging rights discourse in the Nordic countries and the linkages between family law, the labour market and social welfare. The paper argues that the harmonisation exercise cannot be regarded as one consisting only of legal norms and reasoning, but rather it should be discussed from the perspective of a political and epistemological challenge to the prevailing ‹truths’ about marriage, family and sexuality.

The Role of Contemporary Family Behaviors in Nonmarital Conception Outcomes of Nonmetro Women: Comments on Albrecht and Albrecht (2004)*

Abstract Recent research by Albrecht and Albrecht (2004) on nonmarital conception outcomes is extended using data from the 1995 cycle of the National Survey of Family Growth. Residential differences in nonmarital conception outcomes are examined, including nonmarital conception, live birth outcomes, and marital status at birth following a nonmarital conception. Analyses emphasize the role of more contemporary family behaviors in conception outcomes and the importance of distinguishing suburban‐metro from central city‐metro residence in studies that emphasize residential variation in family outcomes. Findings are that (1) nonmetro women have retained more traditional family behavior with regards to marriage following a nonmarital conception, (2) nonmetro and suburban women, however, have equally traditional family patterns and behaviors on many of the outcomes of interest, and (3) it is important to include contemporary family behaviors, such as nonmarital cohabitation, in studies that evaluate traditional family behavior among nonmetro populations.

Lesbian FLEX-ibility

Lesbian ex-lover relationships have frequently been noted as unique phenomena, yet they have received little empirical or theoretical attention. In this article, the available literature on lesbian ex-lovers is examined, as are possible factors and/or motivations among lesbians for maintaining ties with ex-lovers, and especially for constructing close friend and/or family connections among lesbian ex-lovers-what the author calls FLEX relationships. Three main types of factors/motivations are identified: (a) those that reflect a problematic developmental perspective, (b) contextual influences (such as lesbians’ oppression as lesbians and women, socialization as girls and women, and the tendency for same-sex friendships), and (c) constructive challenges to traditional relational forms, family patterns and/or adult development models that offer alternative models for adult lives and relationships. Finally, the author considers the importance of attending to the ex-lover relational form and future directions this attention might take, closing with consideration of the implications for all of us-whatever our sexualities and gender identities-that may be drawn from telling constructive stories of friend/family relationships among lesbian ex-lovers.