Ethnic family patterns; the Italian family in the United States.

Abstract

As a result of a persistent and continuous process of acculturation and adjustment, the structure and functions of the Italian family in America have undergone a radical change from what they were in the Old World. The pattern tends to approximate that of the modern and urban American family. This shift from a peasant and patriarchal family to a democratic and highly individualized type produced conflict and disorganization in the first-generation Italian family and created in the second generation a strongly motivated orientation away from the Old World way of life.