Four types of family cultures—the Faithful, the Engaged Progressives, the Detached and the American Dreamers—are molding the next generation of Americans, a three-year study by the University of Virginia' s Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture finds.
The project findings are being released November 15 at a national conference in Washington, D. C.
Each type represents a complex configuration of moral beliefs, values and dispositions—often implicit and rarely articulated in daily life—largely independent of basic demographic factors, such as race, ethnicity and social class, the “Culture of American Families” study reports.
Most parenting research of the past 30 years, which undergirds notions of “tiger mothers” and “helicopter parents, ” has been based in psychology and focused on parenting styles, said project co-director James Davison Hunter, LaBrosse-Levinson Distinguished Professor of Religion, Culture and Social Theory and executive director of the institute.
This study, funded by an $850, 000 grant from the John Templeton Foundation, goes beyond parenting styles “to tell the complex story of parents’ habits, dispositions, hopes, fears, assumptions and expectations for their children, ” Hunter said.
“Though largely invisible, these family cultures are powerful, constituting the worlds that children are raised in, and may well be more consequential than parenting styles, ” he said.
The report is based on data collected in two stages from September 2011 through March 2012, explained project co- director Carl Desportes Bowman, director of survey research at the institute.
First, a nationally representative sample of 3, 000 parents of school-aged children completed an online one-hour survey. Then follow-up, in-person interviews were conducted with 101 of the survey respondents. The 90-minute interviews complemented the survey with open-ended questions designed to elicit parents' implicit and explicit strategies and assumptions.
The many factors that make up family cultures were distilled using the statistical technique of data cluster analysis to reveal four different family culture types:
The Faithful
The Faithful (20 percent of American parents) adhere to a divine and timeless morality, handed down through Christianity, Judaism or Islam, giving them a strong sense of right and wrong. Understanding human nature as “basically sinful” and seeing moral decline in the larger society, including in the public schools, the Faithful seek to defend and multiply the traditional social and moral order by creating it within their homes and instilling it in their children, with support from their church community. Raising “children whose lives reflect God' s purpose” is a more important parenting goal than their children' s eventual happiness or career success.
Engaged Progressives
For Engaged Progressives (21 percent of parents) , morality centers around personal freedom and responsibility. Having sidelined God as morality' s author, Engaged Progressives see few moral absolutes beyond the Golden Rule. They value honesty, are skeptical about religion and are often guided morally by their own personal experience or what “feels right” to them. Politically liberal and the least religious of all family types, they are generally optimistic about today' s culture and their children' s prospects. Aiming to train their children to be “responsible choosers, ” Engaged Progressives strategically allow their children freedom at younger ages than other parents. By age 14, their children have complete information about birth control, by 15 they are surfing the Web without adult supervision, and by age 16 they are watching R-rated movies.
The Detached
The parenting strategy of The Detached (21 percent of parents) can be summarized as: Let kids be kids and let the cards fall where they may. The Detached are primarily white parents with blue-collar jobs, no college degree and lower household income. Pessimistic about the future and their children' s opportunities, they report lower levels of marital happiness, and do not feel particularly close to their children. They feel they are in a “losing battle with all the other influences out there” and it shows in their practices. They spend less than two hours a day interacting with their children, they do not routinely monitor their children' s homework, and they report lower grades for their children. When they do have dinner together as a family it is often in front of the TV.
American Dreamers
American Dreamers (27 percent of parents) are defined by their optimism about their children' s abilities and opportunities. These parents, with relatively low household income and education, pour themselves into raising their children and providing them every possible material and social advantage. They also invest much effort protecting them from negative social influences and shaping their children' s moral character. This is the most common family culture among blacks and Hispanics, with each group making up about a quarter of American Dreamers. American Dreamers describe their relationships with their children as “very close” and express a strong desire to be “best friends” with their children once they are grown.
The study also identified a number of major trends in parenting and family culture. Contrary to much popular discussion of “the death of character, ” American parents of all stripes want their children to become loving, honest and responsible adults of high moral character. Despite a widespread perception among parents that American family life has declined since they were growing up, parents report that their own families and children are doing very well. Unlike many parents in the 1960s who faced a “generation gap, ” today' s parents believe their children largely share their values. Most family arguments and strife center around mundane, day-to-day issues like doing chores.
Many parents are less confident in authoritarian forms of discipline, so they turn to constant communication and close relationships to influence their children. Parents walk the fine line of wanting to be strict, but also wanting to be close friends and confidants of their children.
While parents worry about all sorts of challenges to their children' s development and vitality, they are unlikely to identify their own children as struggling with such challenges, including obesity, below-average academic performance, drugs or alcohol, or other risky behaviors. This “not my kids” reality gap may be linked to parental closeness and identification with their children.
Most parents are effectively “going it alone, ” reporting a very thin support network. Many parents feel helpless to keep negative external influences at bay as children gain ever-increasing exposure and access to the Internet, on- demand movies, Facebook and other technologies.
First, the Faithful, putting much emphasis on religious morality, always have a strong sense of right and wrong. They want to defend and multiply the traditional social and moral order by create them in their houses. They raise children mainly by God’ s reflection while care less about their children’ s future happiness and success in the society. Second, the Engaged Progressives, mainly focusing on individual freedom and responsibility but casting doubts on religion, are experience-oriented and give their children much freedom. They are optimistic about current social culture and their children’ s future. Third, the Detached, with no college degree and lower household income, are pessimistic about their children’ s future and opportunities. They have less marital happiness and do not feel particularly close to their children. Forth, the American Dreamers who have relatively low education degree and low income are always confident about their children’ s capability and future. They usually are close friends of their children and spend large amount of time with them and make great efforts on their children’ s cultivation.
The study also shows that most of parent’ s wish their children can grow up to be a friendly, honest and responsible adult with highly moral standards and they can be close friends of their children. Parents these days try to raise their children up through communication and parental friendship. They are worried about their children’ s development and life, but they neglect the real problems and risky behaviors of their children. However, still most parents feel powerless when it comes to the external network influences. Meanwhile, the study concludes that, contrary to the prevalent perception, American families and children are doing well. They are just bothered by everyday trials like chores.
本文第一段说明了这只是一篇调查的结果，结果显示美国下一代将会有四种家庭模式，接下来作者一一说明概括了这四种家庭模式。第一种家庭非常看重道德与对错，认为当今社会道德滑坡，所以他们想将自己的培养成为有道德的人，并不怎么关注孩子日后在社会上的前途与未来。第二种崇尚自由和个人主义，怀疑宗教，给予孩子很大自由。第三种家庭对于孩子的未来感到很消极，父母与孩子间的关系也不怎么亲密。第四重家庭对孩子的未来持有积极的态度，父母花很多时间在孩子身上。最后一段作者总结了全文，大部分的父母都想将孩子培养成健全的人，他们对孩子的未来确实感到担心，但又忽略了孩子们实际行为中的问题。大部分父母和孩子都表现得不错，就是为日常琐事所烦恼而已。