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Relationships and Contemporary Experiences of the African American Family

Historically, the African American family has been the subject of numerous studies in an attempt to understand its structure, survival, personal relationships, and status. Many of these studies focused on the perceived pathology or perceived dysfunctional nature of African American family life. The contemporary view, however, of the African American family differs from this historically deficit-oriented or deficiency-oriented model and more appropriately focuses on the cultural and indigenous strength of the family (Billingsley, 1968, 1992; Gaines, 1997; Hill, 1972; McAdoo, 1993b; Mosley-Howard & Evans, 1995; Staples & Johnson, 1993). It is this position of strength that will be emphasized in this article. The goal here is to paint a personal and diverse view of relationships within the African American family from the perspective of four African American families who through an interview shared part of their families' stories. The primary research question under consideration was: What did this sample of African Americans perceive as primary forces influencing their family relationships?