Factors Related to Stability in Upwardly Mobile Black Families.

Despite the fact that mobility or financial stability was clearly tied into the occupation and income of the father, an investigation of upwardly mobile black families in a mid-Atlantic metropolitan area indicates that this middle income group did not have to reject the reciprocal obligations of their extended kin networks in order to realize their own mobility goals. Many felt that they would have been unable to obtain their education, which was responsible in a large part for their upward mobility, without extensive kin-help. This extensive involvement was maintained by those from both working and middle class backgrounds and by those living in both rural and urban areas primarily because it performed a supportive function for the family that the community did not perform. As other studies have similarly pointed out, the extended family pattern of blacks is not just a structural coping tactic, but is a viable cultural pattern. In addition to the kinship network, maternal employment and dual career families are an innate component of black stability and mobility. A consequence of maternal employment, however, is that it removes some of the emotional and temporal resources from the family. (Author/EB)