Chapter 11
turn to their churches for social and spiritual
support (Diller, 2004).
There are a number of barriers
preventing African-Americans from
forming strong, happy, enduring marriages,
including: limited educational and
employment opportunities, the limited
number of available black men, children
from previous relationships, and a tendency
to mistrust each other (Chapman, 2007;
Edin & Reed, 2005; Tucker 2000). Despite
these barriers,African-Americans do form
strong, long lasting marriages. Some of the
sources of strength which help families
overcome these barriers include:
- good emotional and physical health
- trust
- positive marital role models
- determination, especially of men, to
be the father they did not have - social support
- some financial and employment
opportunities - religious participation
(Chapman, 2007; Coles, 2006; Marks, 2005;
Marks et al., 2005; Marks et al., 2006; Marks
et al., 2008).
Challenges.A primary challenge to
African-American families today is the lack
of male role models. A large number of
African-American families are female-
headed households. According to the
Census, 60% of children born to African-
American women were born out of
wedlock (U.S. Census, 2007d). The high
frequency of female-headed households is
a relatively new phenomenon, since
throughout history African-American
families were headed by two parents
(Wilson, Kohn, & Lee, 2000). In chapter 2,
we noted that, even under slave conditions,
African-Americans continued to value
their family connections. An extended kin
network (fictive kin)took in and cared for
children who were separated from their
parents. Despite the terrible conditions of
slavery, African-Americans fought with
determination to maintain stable,
nurturing families. When a man and
woman were forbidden to marry, they
married anyway and referred to one
another as husband and wife, whether the
law of the land recognized their union or
not (Cayton, Gorn and Williams, 1993).
The rise in female-headed households in
the latter years of the 20th century coincides
with a rise in unemployment for African-The number of female-headed households continues
to increase in African-American families.© iStockphoto.com / abeyer