ABSTRACT
Objective
This paper proposes using the Social Relations Model to grasp functional solidarity in families with adolescent and emerging adult children.
Background
Family solidarity is a framework for understanding cohesion among family members. Essential to this concept is commitment to each other’s well-being and a willingness to support one another. The majority of functional solidarity research focuses on support transfers between adult children and older parents. Existing measures do not account for the intra- and intergenerational perspectives of younger families.
Methods
We created a concise round-robin instrument for three dimensions of functional solidarity: willingness to provide financial, practical, and emotional support. It was tested with 586 Belgian parents and adolescents in step-, nuclear-, and single-parent families. As a motivating example, we unraveled the individual, dyadic, and family components contributing to emotional support willingness in 81 stepfamilies.
Results
Social relations analysis showed that biological parents substantially contributed to the average levels of attitudinal emotional functional solidarity. The relative variance decomposition revealed that individual characteristics were the largest source of between-family differences, followed by family members’ unique relationships, especially with stepparents. We found dyadic reciprocity in horizontal relationships: dyad members who were especially willing to provide emotional support were more likely to have a supportive partner or sibling.
Conclusion
Overall, this paper opens up opportunities for family researchers to use the Social Relations Model to examine family solidarity dynamics.