1. The clash that Hansen describes is “the ideology of family independence versus the practice of interdependance.” There has always been the assumption that nuclear family raises children without help and this research challenges this assumption. Hansen focused primarily on white familes in the middle class and are nuclear to prove that they are not disconnected, self-sufficient entities. There are certain beliefs and traditions that shape the way we view nuclear households. This emphasis shape the view of a social nucleus as “a small and independent family that not only shapes conceptions held by the general public, but also influences sociologists whose work examines the household and ignores relationships outside it.” One of the beliefs and traditions that influenced this ideology is the “Standard North American Family (SNAF).” This assums a heterosexual, two-parent model, which convey the idea of the children follow their parents materially, culturally, religiously, and except in cases of adoption, genetically.

Hansen quotes, “work, which determines the contours of much of an employed parent’s day, and schooling, which centrally organizes children’s time, shape and mediate the legal and moral responsibilities of parents to provide food, clothing, and shelter for their children.” More and more females are joining the work force nowadays and this indirectly created this clash. They do not hold the same jobs as males and they do not receive the same wage or benefits as males. The hours for schools are inflexible and oftentimes end in the middle of the afternoon. It is very expensive for parents to pay for day care to take care of their children between the times in which their children leave school and the times when the parents leave work. Therefore, Hansen concludes that the structure of work and school go hand-in-hand together to create a constant challenge for parents who struggle to support their children while finding a service that can provide quality care for their children.

2. Sarkisian, Gerena, and Gerstel propose the following: “Mexicans and Puerto Ricans exhibited higher rates of coresidence and proximate living than Whites; Whites had greater involvement in financial support than Mexicans or Puerto Ricans, but Mexicans were more involved in instrumental help.” The authors believe that structural factors such as income, education, and nuclear family explain much of these differences.

Scholars have identified three cultural characteristics that can possibly these ehtnic differences and they include familism, religious involvement, and gender ideology. First, familism, which is the most commonly mentioned cultural trait, suggests “that Latinos/as value the provision of support among family more highly than White families and want to live closer to kin.” Secondly, Latinos/as and Whites have different level of religious involvement, an activity which many view as an opportunity to stay in touch with family as well as a source of moral values about respecting, obeying and taking care of family members. Lastly, in the Latinos/as culture, there is male dominance, known as machismo, and female submissive, known as marianismo. Scholars also focused on socioeconomic factors to try to understand the differences between Latinos/as. In general, Latinos/as have less education, income, and wealth than Whites. As a result, these differences “increase the need for resources that kin can provide at the same time as it diminishes opportunity to mitigrate away from kin.” However, some believe that it “leads to the deteritotion of kin netowrks as it limits resources, such as time and money, tjhat Latinos/as can share with one another.” In addition, there are theories of economic inequality creating differences in family integration not only between Latinos/as and White but also among Latino/a group. Due to the fact that many of these individuals to the United States, they are subject to distinctive laws and labor market opportunities, which will affect their economic positions in society. These factors ultimately affect the levels of extended family integration.