Family Integration and Childrens Self-Esteem The study of Family Integration and Childrens Self-Esteem that I examined was conducted by Yabiku, Axinn, and Thornton (1999). The term family integration is used to describe the extent to which individual lives are characterized by a high degree of family organization. This article examines the theory of family integration and the way in which the family social organization affects individuals. Discussion:It is hypothesized that when both parents are integrated in the family, it benefits their childrens development of self. Using panel data, they test three mechanisms of parental family integration activities within the home, family social networks, and family support networks. The results show that parental family integration early in a childs life has positive effects on the childs self-esteem in early adulthood, as a 23-year-old young adult. These findings provide important new understanding into both the social courses affecting self-esteem, and the long-term results of the numerous dimensions of family integration.They established three theories: (1) To draw on the modes of social organization approach to derive a theoretical model arguing that family integration develops when family organization of activities are high; (2) Empirical tests of this hypothesis investigate the long-term impact of family integration in early childhood on young adulthood self-esteem; (3) The nature of family integration is multidimensional, giving both theoretical consideration and empirical attention to its multiple dimensions. Sample:The data came from a 23-year intergenerational, seven-wave panel study of mothers and their children. The mothers were selected using a systematic probability sample of the 1961 birth records from the Detroit Metropolitan Area. The study chose equal numbers of married white women from three counties Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb. All had recently given birth to a ...
