Transcript Family Structure and Health - Home

Caribbean Family –Social and
Health Concerns
Dr. J. Rawlins
Senior Lecturer
Public Health and Primary Care Unit
Faculty of Medical Sciences
University of the West Indies
Family Structure and Health
Objectives
define and identify “family” in the various
presentations, structures and components
 discuss the family’s impact on health
behaviour, health beliefs and health
promotion
 discuss the issue of male marginalization and
its implications for health
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Reference(s)
Barrow, Christine (1996) “Family in the
Caribbean- Themes and Perspectives” ,
Ian Randle Publishers, Mona, Jamaica.
 Reddock, Rhoda and Bobb-Smith,
Yvonne (2008)“Reconciling Work and
Family. ILO. Geneva.
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What do we mean by family?
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a group of related kin, linked by blood relationships
and /or marriage or “similar relationship” or adoption,
usually occupying a common household and usually
characterized by relations of economic cooperation
and solidarity
in its simplest form a family consists of a husband, a
wife and their non-adult children i.e. the nuclear
family
the extended family- in which we get the the nuclear
family intact or minus father or mother, but with other
members of the family e.g. grandmothers, aunts,
uncles and cousins
Family
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Considered as the basic unit of social organization
 Found in all societies (Thus it is a universal social
institution)
Functions  protects members, nurtures, transfers values from
generation to generation, educates- generally, acts
as a buffer against all problems which family
members might encounter, acts as and agency of
socialization
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NB. All these functions have implications for the individual’s health and
well-being
Family and Health: the link
The family:
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is the first emotional and social situation that
we experience
 is our
 first teacher
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and first health care provider
determines our life-style in childhood
 influences our life-style in later years (most likely)
Family: Trinidad and Tobago-style
Afro-Trinidadians
 Indo-Trinidadians
 Chinese Trinidadians
 Syrian-Lebanese
 Other Trinidadians
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Explanation of some family patterns
Cultural diffusion approach
attempts to explain family structure by referring to its roots in
Africa, Asia and Europe, and argues that present structures
represent modifications of these origins
 Social Pathology Approach
claims that the hazards of the middle passage and plantation
slavery deformed the Afro-Caribbean family in a number of
ways
 Structural functionalist approach
argued that the family is not deformed or dysfunctional, but has
adopted certain forms as a response to a situation of poverty
and economic marginality
 Adaptive Response Approach
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Adaptive Response Approach
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This approach which has similarities to the Structural
Functionalist Approach argues that families headed
by females are not mal-adaptive but are positive
responses to the absence of males through migration
and other socio-economic forces. (Discuss)
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These theorists argue that the movement from one
union to another is an adaptive function, in responding
to the changing economic conditions of the region and
the concomitant unpredictable status of their partners
Common terms in relation to family
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Matrifocal
(Or matri-centric simply means mother or
female centred and can be understood to
designate a form in which only a mother and
her dependent children are present or
significant
refers e.g. to the female headed household as is
common in Caribbean and some other societies
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Matriarchal
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is sometimes used synonymously with matrifocal,
but it is not really the same
Matriarchy
 Matriarchal
 . “Matriarchy has not been clearly defined by
anthropologist and those who study culture,
but if we consider it to be the opposite of
patriarchy, then matriarchy should be a
society ruled by women in which men have
inferior social and political status, including
basic human rights. According to this
definition, there is no evidence of matriarchy
in ethnology.
Women’s rule?
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Matriarchy
 The suffix -archy denotes leadership and
ruling. True to its sense, any -archal society
should follow that a group dominates the
others.
 Anthropologists know of no matriarchal society
as so defined. But even without matriarchy, it
is important to note that women in many
societies do wield power and serve as leaders.
Patriarchy
 Patriarchal
refers to the male headed household within a
family system and “patriarchy” to the system
of male dominance and female subordination
within a societal system
 Matrilineal- is the family system in which
people join the mother’s group at birth and
stay members for life.
Criticism of the Matrifocal family
Some accuse it of :
 producing maladjusted families
 producing juvenile delinquents
 producing school drop-outs
 not being a “proper family” and not a
viable unit in its own right
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Note: Female headed households 28-70% in the
Caribbean
Single Mothers, Health and Death
A (Swedish) Study reported in the Lancet, May 2000
 showed that single mothers die younger than non
single mothers
 70% risk of dying earlier compared to their
counterpart with husbands or partners
 much of this increase is due to disparities in income
and social standing
 other researchers have shown that single
motherhood poses unique health burdens both
physical and mental
 the research showed that married people live longer
and are generally healthier than singles ( Ref. Gunilla
Weitoft,2000)
Single Mothers and Health
Single mothers:
 were more than twice as likely to commit
suicide
 three times as likely to suffer a violent death
 2.5 times as likely to die an alcohol -related
death
Most likely these differences, in part, are related to the
stress of working and trying to raise children on their
own
Other historical reasons proposed to explain
matrifocality in the Caribean
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Cultural
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West African origins influenced family structure. (There a
system of polygamy existed)- a form of extended family with
one husband and two or more wives.
This structure allowed for considerable economic independence
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Plantation Slavery
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The system of plantation slavery has resulted in Matrifocal
families (note M.G. Smith the renown Anthropologist)
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The Economic Model
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the economic position of black males in the “new world” created the matrifocality. ** (Matrifocality slightly less common in
Trinidad and Guyana)
Poverty
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A fourth argument cites poverty as the main
cause of matrifocality, and argues that
matrifocality had become a part of the
subculture of poverty.
 Oscar Lewis in his “Culture of Poverty”
studies in Puerto Rico argued that
matrifocality was not simply a product of
poverty, but also of culture.
Commonly found union types
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Married -legal; all religious and ethnic groups
 Common law
 like marriage but until recently did not have
same legal status. Now has same
status… children not discriminated
against
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Visiting relationship
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no legal status
sexual relations
variable stability
Union Patterns in the Anglophone Caribbean in the mid 1990’s
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Young mothers < than 25 years are usually in nonresidential unions (marriage at these ages, except in
the East Indian population, is negligible)
Up to 75% of total women will have a child before age
25 years
Age 25-45 majority of women are in residential unions
After 45 year there is an upward trend in:
separations
e.g. Widowhood and divorce
Divorces: In Trinidad
Divorce rates highest among the >40’s
 As age increases up to the 40’s the
rate increases
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Divorce rates per 1000 (Trinidad 1998)
35-39
547 per 1000
40-44
807 per 1000
45-49
718 per 1000
50 and
779 per 1000
Source: Ministry of Gender and Culture, 1998
Divorce update T&T (2006)
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Divorce rate has risen 29.7% in the past ten
years (CSO)
1554 in 2000, up from 1198 in 1990
Significant numbers had only been married for
2 years; and in 2002, five of these had only
been married for one year
The average age of first marriages in 2002
was 20-24 for women and 25-29 for men
Source: Woman Express, p.16. (3/9/2006)
Family and Health:Some Issues
family history
 socio-economic situation
 dietary preferences
 exercise patterns
 drinking choices
 sexual behaviour
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Specific health implications for these families??
The young single mother
 The older single mother
 The Jehovah’s witness
 The Catholic family
 the Hindu family
 The Muslim family
 The traditional Christian family
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Questions
Is the family all that we expect it to be?
 Is the family always seen in a positive
light?
 Can the family protect the individual in a
situation of serious economic
challenge?
 Can the family protect the individual’s
health in today’ society?
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Men’s marginalization
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Men under the system of patriarchy are
accustomed to being in charge
In the past 40-50 years the system of
patriarchy ruled, within the Caribbean, or so it
seemed
 Nowadays women’s new roles, salaries,
opportunities, responsibilities present
challenges to men and to women also
What are some of these
challenges?
Some challenges
Extremely disgruntled men
 Insecure men
 In some cases, more reasonable men
 Increased incidence of Domestic
Violence
 Overworked women
 Women unable to find suitable partners
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Men’s marginalization: Implications for Health
Some become marginal, not only to family but
also to society as evidenced by:
 alcohol abuse
 drug abuse
 domestic violence
 psychiatric problems
 involvement in the drug trade
 Underperformance in many areas of life