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  • Title: Ethnic family structure.
    Author: Mcdonald P.
    Journal: Fam Matters; 1989 Apr; (23):38-45. PubMed ID: 12282096.
    Abstract:
    Using information from large-scale statistical collections and elaborations from ethnographic studies, this paper examines the underlying social processes and structures of migrant families in Australia. Migrants in Australia are often confronted by family values and behavior which run counter to their own. For some migrants, particularly those from the United Kingdom and Western European countries, there is little conflict as Australian family values and behavior approximate their own; the feminine conception of the family is not foreign to them. On the other hand, migrants from Mediterranean countries and from Asia are likely to face a clash between the masculine conception of the family and the dominant feminine conception they find in Australia. Economic structure also often forces an accommodation to the feminine conception of the family. For example, migrant women in Australia are heavily involved in the work force outside the family circle, and, in the main, have relatively low fertility. Age at marriage is increasing and many single women of migrant origin are being educated at the tertiary level and are working before marriage. These changes necessarily expose women and youths to the dominant social values and increase their economic independence, thus disrupting the conventional male family authority. There is evidence of a degree of accommodation to Australian patterns of behavior in migrant groups more inclined to a masculine conception of the family. In other areas, however, which are less directly related to economic pressure, migrant values have been far less accommodating. There is still a high level of endogamy, the 1st birth occurs soon after marriage, divorce rates are low, and the aged are very likely to live with their children. Large migrant groups have been able to maintain these patterns of behavior through the formation of ethnic substructures that form their principal social environment. In the longer term, however, their children are deeply exposed to the dominant Australian social environment.
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