As part of a larger study on family functioning, the authors
administered a questionnaire on individual attitudes toward family values
to 158 Japanese-American and Caucasian families. Differences between the
generations on questions of authority and responsibility were predictable;
few differences were found between ethnic groups. However, differences were
striking between adolescent boys and girls, regardless of ethnicity: Girls
valued family affiliation, closeness, and emotional expression
significantly more highly than did boys. The authors emphasize the need for
families to value girls' needs for closeness and emotional expression as
highly as boys' needs for independence and self-differentiation. They
suggest that the concept of separation-individuation as the major goal of
adolescence be reexamined.
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