Race, Maternal Authority, and Adolescent Aspiration

The present paper tests the prevalent hypotheses that the matriarchal character of black families is associated principally with father absence from the home and that a matriarchal family structure has detrimental educational consequences for black males. Within the limitations imposed by the samples, the results lead to the tentative rejection of these hypotheses. Among blacks, the authority of mothers tends to be stronger in intact than in broken families. Furthermore, maternal authority in the household hand identification with a female role model do not appear to have the negative consequences on educational aspirations and school performance for black adolescent boys which have been attributed to them. Black mothers and their children have the same or higher educational aspirations than white regardless of the fact that the black adolescents tend to identify more closely with their mothers. The lower educational attainment of blacks must be sought in other factors within and outside the family which make it difficult for black adolescents to translate educational aspirations into educational achievement.