A STUDY OF THE STATE OF THE AMERICAN FAMILY

The purposes of this study were to investigate the perceptions of family life professionals concerning: (1) the state of the American family, its strengths, problems and needs; (2) selected aspects of the following: single-parent family, dual-worker family, cohabitation, and divorce; (3) to test the hypotheses that: (a) there is no significant difference between responses of this sample and more general populations to questions from other surveys; and (b) there is no significant relationship between responses to State of the Family Instrument scores according to demographic variables. The research population was a national sample of 158 family life professionals who had been recommended by chairpersons of the state units of NCFR. The data were collected by questionnaire during March, April, and May, 1982. Data were analyzed by frequency and percentage count, Z-test, analysis of variance and means. The respondents assessed the family system as strong, healthy, here to stay, and as struggling but adapting to a changing environment. However, many people\u27s expectations of happiness in marriage are not being fulfilled. Greatest strengths of the family were identified as: (1) affective aspects, and (2) adaptability, diversity and resilience. The most important problems were: economic, lack of preparation for leadership, poor parenting skills, busy pace of life, too little time together, violence, and fantasy image of family life. Most important needs of families were: (1) family life education, (2) economic stability, and (3) support networks. Most important educational needs were: parenting education, communication, and consumerism and family management. Respondents perceived the dual-worker family most favorably. This was followed by cohabitation. Divorce and single-parent family were not perceived as favorably. A statistically significant difference existed between the responses of this study and responses from more general populations on each of the questions from other surveys with professionals being more positive. No significant relationships were found on SFI scores according to several demographic variables. This study suggests the need to improve the image of the family and to enrich individual marriages. The quality of family life could be improved by improving the social environment and the economic climate, and by making quality family life education available to all families