McNair Scholars Undergraduate Research Journal, 2010, Vol. 2

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/10711

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African American Mother-Son Dynamics and their Effect on the African American Marital Relationship
(2010) Law, Sharelle; Southerland, Wallace III
This conceptual paper investigates the difficulties African American married couples are experiencing in an attempt to maintain stable relationships. The following questions are analyzed and answered: (a) how are African American mother-son relationships characterized in the literature? and (b) how does the bond between African American mothers and their sons affect their sons’ future relationship with their wives and marital satisfaction? The significance of this paper is to gain a broader perspective of the state of marriage in the African American culture. To identify and understand how African American mother-son relationships influence spousal unions and use the findings as an instrument to enhance African American marriages, and to gain a larger comprehension of African American male-female tension and provide a different perspective and knowledge in assessing the origins of the conflict. The Freudian psychoanalytical Oedipus complex will be used to discuss how African American men subconsciously choose a mate that resembles their mother. Olson and Olson’s five typologies of marriage will also be used as a guide in discussing marital satisfaction among African American married men. The conclusions are that there are certain things only a mother can teach a son, many African American marriages are conflicted, an African American man will subconsciously pick a mate much like his mother, and the martial union will most likely resemble the mother-son relationship and many African American-mother son relationships are most likely conflicted.
Low-Income African-American Fathers and their Feelings toward Fatherhood: In their Own Voices
(2010) Jones, Andres; Cabrera, Natasha; Kondelis, Brianne
Negative stereotypes of African-American fathers suggest that they are uninterested in, uninvolved with, and uncommitted to their children (Julion et al, 2007; Kismann, 1997; McAdoo, 1997). The research that exists on African-American fathers suffers from several limitations. It focuses more on their roles as breadwinners (Dubowitz et al, 2006; Rasheed & Rasheed, 1999) than on other roles they might play in their families (e.g., caregiver, teacher) and is based on information collected largely through mother’s reports rather than from fathers themselves (Cabrera et al, 2000; Shears et al, 2006; Tanfer & Mott, 1997). The feelings that African-American fathers have toward fatherhood are not often represented in this research nor have they shaped a public narrative about African-American fatherhood. This study examines how African-American men perceive the role of fatherhood. The study is framed by Identity Theory which posits that individuals identify with the roles they occupy in life and act accordingly (Stryker, 1980). For the purpose of this study, I draw on qualitative data that were previously collected for the HAPPI father study. Fifteen fathers were randomly selected and the responses to four open-ended survey questions were reviewed and analyzed for themes and commonalities. Findings from this study will challenge the negative stereotypes of African-American fathers and highlight the diversity within this group.