What predicts interdependence with family? The relative contributions of ethnicity/race and social class

OBJECTIVE

Interdependence with family is considered a core element of collectivistic cultures, and it is routinely endorsed by people of ethnic/racial minority backgrounds in the United States. In contrast, a preference for independence from family is characteristic of individualistic cultures, and of European Americans, who are considered prototypical of cultural individualism. Scholars have also theorized that socioeconomic factors play a role in shaping these patterns. We hypothesized and tested the possibility of a more nuanced and interactive pattern. Drawing from long-standing research on U.S. ethnic-minority cultures and recent research on social class, we expected that lower income would be least associated with family interdependence in foreign-born Latino/a Americans and most strongly associated with higher family interdependence in European Americans.

METHOD AND RESULTS

In a prospective community study of a diverse sample of U.S. adults (N = 2,466), income interacted with ethnic/racial group to predict interdependence with family. In line with our predictions, income was not associated with family interdependence for foreign-born Latino/a Americans or African Americans, but lower income was significantly associated with higher interdependence with family in European Americans and, to a lesser extent, in U.S.-born Latino/a Americans.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings provide novel evidence for the relevance of both ethnicity/race and social class-two aspects of culture-for family interdependence. They highlight the centrality of interdependence with family among foreign-born Latino/a Americans while showing that European Americans, a group considered most representative of cultural individualism, can also highly value interdependence with family. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Is Receiving Social Support Costly for Those Higher in Subjective Socioeconomic Status?

BACKGROUND

Although social support is generally thought to have positive consequences, this is not always the case. Receiving social support may threaten independence, which research has shown is more highly valued among those higher in socioeconomic status. As a result, support may be less strongly associated with positive outcomes for those higher in socioeconomic status (SES). Conversely, those lower in SES are more interdependent (Kraus, Piff, Mendoza-Denton, Rheinschmidt, & Keltner, 2012; Stephens, Markus, & Phillips, 2014) and may, therefore, be less threatened when receiving social support. This study examined SES as a moderator of how daily received support (within and between persons) predicted both daily psychological stressor appraisals and diurnal cortisol.

METHOD

Healthy undergraduate students (N = 128) participated in a 3-day study. Participants completed one or more evening diaries the first day of the study and additional questionnaires upon awakening, throughout the day, and at bedtime during the following 2 days. Support was measured each evening and stressor appraisals and cortisol were measured throughout the day.

RESULTS

As expected, for those who reported higher subjective SES, receiving more support than usual (within-person support) was associated with a flatter pattern of diurnal cortisol the next day. Although SES did not moderate the association of either within- or between-person support with stressor appraisals, the receipt of more support on average (between-person support) was associated with higher reported resources to cope.

CONCLUSION

The findings demonstrate that there may be physiological costs-but not psychological costs-associated with the receipt of support for those higher in socioeconomic status.

Measurement Properties of Sabogal's Familism Scale: Findings from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL) Sociocultural Ancillary Study

Familism is a central Hispanic/Latino cultural value that emphasizes close, supportive family relationships and prioritizing family over the self. One of its best-known measures is Sabogal's Familism Scale (Sabogal, Marin, Otero-Sabogal, VanOss Marin, & Perez-Stable, 1987). Although widely used, this scale's measurement properties are not well understood. This study addressed that gap by examining the factor structure, factorial invariance, convergent and discriminant validity, and internal consistency of Sabogal's Familism Scale using data from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL) Sociocultural Ancillary Study. A diverse population-based sample of Hispanics/Latinos (N = 5,313) completed measures that were administered via interview in English or Spanish. Confirmatory factor analyses (n = 5,310) revealed that a three-factor model (familial obligations, perceived support from the family, family as referents; Sabogal's original three factors) fit the data well and did not vary across English and Spanish language groups (i.e., factorial invariance). Convergent and discriminant validities were also established; familism correlated positively with other Hispanic/Latino cultural values (simpatía, fatalism) and correlated negatively with U.S. acculturation. Internal consistency was acceptable. Sabogal's Familism Scale is recommended for continued use in the study of familism in U.S. Hispanics/Latinos.

Subjective Socioeconomic Status Matters Less When Perceived Social Support Is High: A Study of Cortisol Responses to Stress

Low objective and subjective socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with the experience of frequent stressors known to have physiological costs. We tested whether perceived social support, a key health-protective resource, buffered the association between lower subjective SES and cortisol responses to an acute stressor. Participants ( N = 115; 54.78% female; age M = 19.56) reported subjective SES and perceived support, completed a social-evaluative stressor task, and provided saliva for cortisol assessment. There was a significant interaction of subjective SES with support predicting linear change in cortisol stress responses, γ = .08, z = 2.34, p = .02. When support was low, subjective SES was strongly related to cortisol, and those who reported lower subjective SES exhibited higher cortisol during recovery than those who reported higher subjective SES. When support was high, those who reported higher and lower subjective SES exhibited similar cortisol responses. These results highlight the important protective role that supportive relationships can have when subjective SES is low.