Ethnic variations in relationships

Previous research on differences between African-American and Caucasian families has indicated extensive variation between ethnic groups, which often has been interpreted as suggesting deficits among African-American, as compared to Caucasian relationship patterns (e.g., Moynihan, 1965). Much of this research has been at the sociological level of analysis which focuses on structural and quantitative characteristics (e.g., number of single-parent families, number of friends, etc.). Although useful, such an emphasis tends to obscure more qualitative and psychological characteristics of relationships (e.g., degree of satisfaction, meaning of relationship, attachment, etc.), which are emphasized at the psychological level of analysis. Moreover, much of the recent research on relationships may be interpreted as supporting the idea that the qualitative characteristics of relationships are more strongly related to important relationship outcomes than are the quantitative measures (e.g., Jones and Perlman, 1987; Carver and Jones, 1992). As a consequence, the present inquiry examined the characteristics of family and other relationships among 73 African-American and 185 Caucasian college students using measures of psychological characteristics as well as broader sociological categories. Specifically, comparisons were made in regard to loneliness, family satisfaction, parent and peer orientation, as well as quantitative aspects such as social support characteristics. Results replicated and further confirmed previous reports comparing African-American and Caucasian respondents on relationship patterns when viewed from the perspective of broader sociological characteristics. By contrast, the differences between these two groups in their degree of satisfaction with and attachment to various relational partners were not reliable.