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Using a nationally representative sample of African American adolescents from the National Survey of American Life Adolescent supplement (NSAL-A), this study examines intraracial diversity in two key dimensions of family organization—family structure and family integration—and assesses their relationship with youths' educational performance, namely, grades, grade repetition, and number of suspensions. Results show that there is substantial within-group heterogeneity in family organization among African Americans, and that patterns of organization vary systematically by level of household resources, specifically household income. Results also indicate that the relationship between family structure and family integration and Black adolescents' educational performance differs by resource level. These factors are generally unrelated to the grades, grade repetition, and number of suspensions of adolescents from low-income households, but they are associated with these outcomes for adolescents from the most economically advantaged households. Irrespective of household income, findings demonstrate that the substantive impact of family organization on Black youths' educational outcomes is small, which suggests that family organization has a more limited relationship with Black Americans' life chances than previously theorized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study tested two hypotheses that have been posited to account for racial/ethnic differences in the association between family structure and children's education. Background: Research has shown that children raised by both biological parents fare better academically than children raised in any other family structure. However, there has been little research to explain an important finding: living apart from a biological parent is less negatively consequential for racial/ethnic minority children than white children. Scholars have speculated that group differences in exposure to socioeconomic stress and embeddedness in extended family networks explain this finding. Method: This study used nationally representative, longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (n = 2,589). It employed logistic regression analysis and decomposition techniques to assess whether racial/ethnic differences in these two mechanisms explained the differential association between family structure and children's on‐time high school completion and college enrollment for white, black, and Hispanic children. Results: The results indicate that socioeconomic stress and extended family embeddedness attenuate the effect of family structure on these two measures of children's education, although the former to a much greater extent. The differences in socioeconomic resources accounted for up to nearly 50% of the gap in these outcomes, and extended family embeddedness explained roughly 15% to 20%. Conclusion: Findings lend support for the socioeconomic stress hypothesis, which posits that the negative effect of parental absence from the home may be less independently impactful for racial/ethnic groups already facing many socioeconomic disadvantages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines black adolescents' reports of the most helpful types of social support that they receive from and provide to family members, and whether family support exchanges vary by ethnicity (African American vs. Black Caribbean) and gender. Data for this study are from the National Survey of American Life Adolescent Supplement (NSAL-A), a national, probability sample of African American and Black Caribbean youth (ages 13-17). Overall, youth reported financial support, followed by emotional assistance and practical support as the most helpful types of support that they received. Practical and emotional assistance characterized the most commonly reported types of support that they provided to family members. Black Caribbean adolescents were more likely than African American adolescents to report financial and practical assistance as the most helpful types of support that they received from family members; no ethnic differences were observed in the provision of support to relatives. There were no significant gender differences in the receipt of support, but adolescent girls reported greater involvement in providing emotional support and caregiving than adolescent boys. The results of this paper reveal that African American and Black Caribbean adolescents are involved in a complex pattern of reciprocal support exchanges with their extended family members. Study findings also reinforce the importance of research focused on racial/ethnic and gender differences in family support exchanges in order to develop a more nuanced understanding of family support behaviors within these groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from the National Survey of American Life, we investigated the social and demographic correlates of fictive kin network involvement among African Americans, Black Caribbeans, and non-Latino Whites. Specifically, we examined the factors shaping whether respondents have fictive kin, the number of fictive present kin in their networks, and the frequency with which they received support from fictive kin. Overall, 87% of respondents had a fictive kin relationship, the average network size was 7.5, and 61% of participants routinely received fictive kin support. Affective closeness and contact with family, friends, and church members were positively associated with fictive kin relations. Age, region, income, and marital and parental status were related to fictive kin network involvement, though these associations varied by race/ethnicity. Collectively, findings indicate that fictive kin ties extend beyond marginalized communities, and they operate as a means to strengthen family bonds, rather than substitute for family deficits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study examined the correlates of involvement in extended family social support networks among African Americans. Background: Previous literature has documented the importance of informal social support from extended family members for the African American population. Most research has investigated black‐white differences in network involvement or has focused on impoverished African American families. Both approaches conceal important within‐group variation in participation among the total African American population. Method: This study relied on nationally representative data from the African American sub‐sample of the National Survey of American Life (n = 3538). It employed ordinary least squares regression analysis to examine the sociodemographic and family factors that are associated with four key measures of involvement in extended family support networks: receiving and providing extended family support, frequency of family contact, and degree of subjective closeness. Results: African Americans routinely interacted with members of their family, displayed a high degree of family closeness, and exchanged support fairly frequently. Findings also revealed significant variation in network involvement by sociodemographic characteristics: women, younger adults, and Southerners were typically most involved; individuals who experienced greater material hardship, were previously incarcerated, or served in the military reported less involvement. Results also showed that family closeness and family contact were particularly salient factors shaping the extent to which network members engaged in support exchanges. Conclusion: The magnitude of within‐group heterogeneity in network involvement underscores the importance of considering issues of intragroup diversity in the developing literature on African American extended family networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]