In family science, a great deal of scholarly work has focused on marginalized and disadvantaged families with stated goals of improving family outcomes and well‐being. Yet little attention has been paid to family privilege and the ways in which the advantages of privileged families are maintained within a White heteronormative hegemonic society to the continued disadvantage of others. In this article, I define family privilege and consider how it intersects with other privileges (e.g., White privilege) to maintain the supremacy of the Standard North American Family. I theorize how family privilege is masked yet perpetuated and instantiated in the field of family science. I conclude with a discussion of approaches that family scientists can employ to surface and redress family privilege in the self, family privilege in family theories and methods, and the mechanisms that perpetuate family privilege and the maintenance of advantage. This work is critical to advancing family equality and social justice.
Migration and resettlement processes are often characterized by stressful and traumatic experiences. Immigrants may experience premigration trauma in their countries of origin and trauma during their migration journey. Furthermore, refugee and undocumented immigrant women navigate unique and ongoing stressors postmigration. In this study, the authors used a phenomenological approach to explore refugee and undocumented immigrant women's experiences of trauma and stress and the ways in which they develop resilience to cope with these experiences.
In light of the growing number of interracial marriages in this country, the present study set out to examine the relative strength of one's racial identity, social support, and experience of discrimination in predicting interracial marriage quality. A total of 76 interracial couples (52 African American male/White female and 24 African American female/White male) participated in the study by completing mail surveys. Results revealed that for African American partners, and to a lesser extent White partners, racial identity was the strongest predictor of marital quality. Partners who had pride in their race but were also accepting of other races and cultures experienced higher marital quality. These findings are discussed in light of the literature that suggests interracial couples often minimize the relevance of race in their relationships.
This article investigates the life conditions that contribute to low-income fathers' depression and that may jeopardize their relationships with their children. This work is based on a cultural-ecological framework that emphasizes the need to understand these fathers within their larger familial and social contexts. The sample consisted of 127 predominantly African American participants in two urban and rural responsible fatherhood programs. Of the fathers, 56% reported depressive symptoms indicating cause for clinical concern. In addition, fathers'resource challenges (unemployment; inability to pay full amount of child support order; limited access to reliable transportation; lack of permanent housing; problems with alcohol or drugs; health problems or disability; and criminal conviction history), residence (rural vs. urban), and level of social support were all significant predictors of fathers' depression. The authors discuss how these findings can be used to guide future programmatic and policy initiatives pertaining to low-income, nonresidential fathers.
The authors present the voices of 20 low-income fathers, all participants in a Responsible Fatherhood (RF) program in a large urban area. A hermeneutic phenomenological methodology was used to document participants' memories of becoming fathers, explain participants' perceptions of the benefits and the barriers to remaining involved with the program, and share participants' suggestions for program improvement. The results provide a preliminary evaluation of the program's services, and we discuss how these findings are helpful to future programmatic and policy initiatives.
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