Familial Support in the Black Community

Considers the structural, interactional, and functional aspects of the Black familial network. Infants and young children receive more indirect than direct benefits when their families participate in extended family networks. Single mothers who are active participants in an extended family system have a greater opportunity for self-improvement, work, and peer contact than do single mothers who do not participate in such a system. Also, it appears that the Black elderly donate more services than they receive from such families. An alarming trend is the low availability of marriageable men in the Black community. Current socioeconomic difficulties and unstable interpersonal relationships in the Black community have contributed to the strain on the resources of many of its extended family networks.