This dissertation has beeh 65—1969 microfilmed exactly as received SUSSMAN, Marvin B„ 1918- FAMILY CONTINUITY: A STUDY OF FACTORS WHICH AFFECT RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN FAMILIES AT GENERATIONAL LEVELS. Yale University, Ph.D., 1951 Sociology, family University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan r Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. FAMILY CONTINUITY: A STUDY OF FACTORS WHICH AFFECT RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN FAMILIES AT GENERATIONAL LEVELS MARVIN B. SUSSMAN A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF YALE UNIVERSITY IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 1951 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT This th esis is a study in in terg eneration al fam ily co n tin u ity . An attem pt has been made to estab­ lis h the importance of fac to rs which a ffe c t re la tio n ­ ships between fam ilies a t two generation le v e ls . The facto rs investigated are: 1) The so c io -cu ltu ra l back­ ground of the marriage mates; 2) Type of courtship and marriage ceremony; 3) Family and child rearin g philosophy and p ractice; 4) The development of fin a n c ia l and other service p attern ; and 5) The re s id e n tia l location of the parental and c h ild ’s fam ily a fte r m arriage. To determine the importance o f these fac to rs, parents of 97 fam ilies who were m iddle-class, w hite, P ro testan t, whose children had married and le f t home were intensively interview ed. From those interview s 195 parent-ch ild relatio n sh ip s were selected which com­ p rise a fin a l sample. A case study approach was em­ ployed and s ta tis tic a l procedures used with some of the dsita . Our findings suggest th at the continuity of in terg en eratio n al family rela tio n sh ip s tends to be in ­ creased when marriage partners share sim ila rity of back- groundj observe the tra d itio n a l conventions regarding courtship and marriage ceremony, have been raised to be family-minded and s e lf -r e lia n t, continue in moderation a p attern of economic help and service with th e ir parents, and liv e in the same or nearby community as th e ir elders • These facto rs appear to be in te rre la te d , each operating in association with the other in any given paren t-ch ild re la tio n sh ip . Thus, if a child m arries a mate of sim ilar background the p ro b a b ilitie s are that he w ill have an approved courtship and wedding, and generally develop a pattern of jo in t fam ily a c tiv itie s with his p a re n ts. Our data suggest th at so c io -cu ltu ra l s im ila ri­ tie s are the most important of the fiv e facto rs studied, in a ffe ctin g family c o n tin u ity . Next in importance to fam ily continuity is the observation of the tra d itio n a l sequence, followed by the rearing p ractices under which the child was ra ise d . Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS To the persons of the G reater New Haven Area who served as respondents in th is research p ro je c t, and gave fre e ly of th e ir time, I am indebted and sincerely appreciative* They are too many to mention indiv id ually I am also obligated to Professor Maurice R. Davie, Chair man, Department of Sociology, Yale U niversity, Mirra Komarovsky of Barnard College and Ralph Linton of the Department of Anthropology, Yale U niversity, and to mem­ bers of the facu lty in the Department of Sociology at Yale, fo r th e ir h elpfu l suggestions) to Jim and Helen Davie, who validated some of the data; Ray Porer, who rated the fam ilies and read some of the o rig in al manu­ sc rip t; Barbara C hatfield, who proof read some of the fin a l copy; and L u cille Chamberlain, who typed the fin a l m anuscript; I am sincerely g ratefu l fo r th e ir help. P a rtic u la r acknowledgments are to John Sirjam aki, d irec to r of th is th e sis, who gave u n stin tin g ly of his time, Pred Strodtbeck, who advised on the use of s ta ­ t is ti c a l procedures, and Ruth Sussman, who typed the o rig in al m anuscript• Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OP CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I INTRODUCTION 1 II CHARACTERISTICS OP THE GROUP; METHODS; PROCEDURES 17 I I I SOC10-CULTURAL SIMILARITIES 42 IV THE TRADITIONAL SEQUENCE 73 V CHILD-REARING PRACTICES 103 VI SERVICE EXCHANGE PATTERN 133 VII RESIDENTIAL NEARNESS 163 ' V III SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 182 BIBLIOGRAPHY 196 APPENDIX 204 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LIST OF TABLES Page 1 . LEVELS OF FAMILY CONTINUITY AS RATED BY AUTHOR AND JUDGE 39 2. PERCENTAGE OF POSITIVE FACTORS (SOCIO­ CULTURAL SIMILARITIES, TRADITIONAL SEQUENCE, CHILD REARING PRACTICE) BY FAMILY CONTINUITY LEVEL 192 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Fam ilies have need to perpetuate themselves and the society of whioh they are a part by ensuring the marriage of th e ir child ren , and thus the creation of fam ilies a t constantly new generational le v e ls., In a l l human so c ie tie s procreation Is lim ited to the fam ily: marriage is regarded as licen sin g parenthood, and I l l e ­ gitim acy is un iv ersally condemned and punished.1 Only the * fam ily, as a sanctioned union between persons of the two 0 sexes, can provide the constant and prolonged care necessary to rea r human o ffsp rin g . Hence every society zealously safeguards the fam ily and confines the procreative processes to i t . The fam ily rears and so cializes i t s young,^ then when they have grown u,p and are ready to marry, o rd in arily exeroises some supervision over th e ir manner of marriage and the launching of the new fam ily. In th is fashion each generation makes provision fo r the next and c arries on in ­ to tim e. 1 Bronislaw Malinowski, "Parenthood— the Basis of Social S tru ctu re." The New G eneration. V. F. Calverton and 3. D. Schmalhauser, ed s., i&So • "(Ifew 'STork: The Macauley Company 1930), pp. 137-144. 2 ' Ralph Linton, The Study of Man (New York: D. Appleton Century Co., 1936), pp. lb i-15 7 . Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. -2 - Thls co n tin u ity between in terg en eratio n al fam ilies is characterized by so cial rela tio n sh ip s between parents and th e ir m arried children which aid considerably in s ta b i­ liz in g the younger fa m ilie s, The elders may a s s is t th e ir 4 children economically, or give them a home, or in stru c t them in m arital ro le s . They may intervene a ctiv e ly in family c rise s, to p rotect ag ain st outside aggression, or to nurse sick members, or to provide food or other n e c e ssitie s, 4 Typically, elders in every society dote on th e ir grand­ children and lav ish affectio n upon them. Common needs and understanding also e x ist between the generations and these strengthen the human resources of both fa m ilie s. The flow of a ssistan ce, i t should be noted, is not always in one « d ire c tio n : the m arried children, in tu rn , are often r e ­ quired to care fo r parents when they become old and incap­ able of managing fo r them selves, Today in American society the continuity between Intergen eratio nal fam ilies is sometimes impaired because of changing so cial conditions which a ffe c t both the fam ily in­ s titu tio n and so c ie ty . Children se le c t th e ir own marriage partners on the b asis of mutual a ffe c tio n , and parents may p a rtic ip a te in th e ir choices very l i t t l e , if a t a ll.^ 4 Therefore, parents may acquire sons- or daughters-in-law 1 W illard W aller, The Family; A'Dynamic In terp re­ ta tio n (New York: The Dryden Press, I n c ,, I&&8), pp. 17V- TT§~. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. -3 - w ith whom they cannot read ily e stab lish frien d ly re la tio n - * sh ip s. Upon m arriage children found independent households, whose lo cation is usually determined by the husband*s place of employment.^ Even though th is may not be fa r from the parents* home, the rela tio n sh ip s between the two fam ilies may be d isa ffe c te d . Often the parents* e ffo rts to help th e ir children may be resented as in terferen ce in th e ir a ff a irs , and th e ir indulgence of the grandchildren regarded as counter­ acting the mother*s d isc ip lin e over them. Furthermore, the two fam ilies may find i t d if f ic u lt to e stab lish common under- standing because ad u lt members d iffe r in class p o sitio n , ethnic background, relig io u s a f f ilia tio n , occupation and lev els of schooling. Thus, the nuclear fam ily comprised of parents and children has tended to become independent and iso lated from i t s p arental fam ily. This separation between the two fam ilies a fte r — * marriage is of course never complete, since parents and children re ta in strong, bonds of a ffectio n and in terd e- * * pendence, which are not e asily destroyed. N evertheless, they tend to be weakened by urban in d u strialism of con­ temporary so ciety , the prolonged schooling of ch ild ren , 1 T alco tt Persons stre sse s the economic emancipa­ tio n of the in d iv id u al from the fam ily of o rien tatio n and m obility of the new fam ily in terms of the child*s indepen­ dent ohoice of occupation. ”The Social S tructure of the Family”, in The Fam ilyi' Its Function and'D estiny (New Yorks Harper and feros., k . Anshen, eel., p. 92. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. and the increasing number of other in s titu tio n a l member­ ships ■which ' phrpn’tsvandp©hll£fcren have ap art frhmtieabh p&her*-!-. Furthermore, the fam ily*s loss of productive i functions and i'ts sharing of other functions with in s titu ­ tions in the society have reduced i t s former so lid a rity as a work group, thus the dependence fam ily members have upon 2 i t . They find employment without the fam ily * s. help and make th e ir way independently. Upon marriage they e stab lish themselves independent of both sets of p aren ts. Often they marry a fte r completion of school or a period of employment away from home, therefore th e ir contacts with the home have weakened before m arriage and may not be resumed th e re a fte r. As a consequence of these developments the fam ily has been weakened by the in s ta b ility of m arriage tie s , demonstrated by high divorce ra te s , economic in se cu rity , individuation of fam ily members with reduced emphasis on 1 Adolph S. Tomars, in a b rie f but precise essay, in d icates how rapid social change and urbanism has modified fam ily rela tio n sh ip s and fu n ctio n s. Human R elations in a. Changing Society (Hew York: New York Society if’or fethical djuliurej 1 9 4 ( 5 pp. 22-38. 2 F aris suggests th at the continuity of in te r ­ generational relatio n sh ip s i>s breaking down because of the opportunities for occupational advancement and the disap- • pearanoe of the apprenticeship system . Robert E'. L. F a ris, "In teractio n of G enerations,and Family S ta b ility ." Amer. S oclo. Rev.. XII (A pril, 1947), 159. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.