Solidarity Family and Emotional Closeness free essay sample

This view of family relations provides an important framework for understanding the roots of familism—the factors that contribute to the maintenance and/or development of loyalty within families. Emotional closeness between parents and children and its impact on the quality of the parent-child bond is explored in research into the intergenerational stake (Bengtson and Kuypers 1971; Bond and Harvey 1991) and intergenerational solidarity (Bengtson and Schrader 1982; Roberts and Bengtson 1990). For example, the intergenerational stake hypothesis explores the cross-generational nature of emotional closeness between parents and children. The hypothesis holds that: (1) parents descriptions of the relationship will be more positive than childrens; and (2) different levels of investment and development may account for these variances in relationship perceptions. The intergenerational solidarity model goes a step further, looking at emotional closeness or affect between parents and children as just one of six indicators of solidarity or integration between generations in a family. In a study examining the relationship between acculturation and family solidarity in Hispanic-American families, Julian Montoro-Rodriguez and Karl Kosloski (1998) find that for two dimensions of attitudinal familism (familial obligation and support from relatives), acculturation is positively related to familism. We will write a custom essay sample on Solidarity: Family and Emotional Closeness or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This means, contrary to assimilationist perspectives on family ties, that as Hispanic Americans become acculturated to the dominant Anglo culture, they continue to maintain and further develop loyalty to their families. That is, familism persists over time despite changes in, for example, language proficiency and preference, and ethnic origin of friends.