May 11, 1999

THE MINNESOTA FAMILY STRENGTH Survey and Profile is a key component of the Minnesota Family Strength Project. Research psychologist Judy Watson Tiesel and her team employed a three-part research program to reveal the complex world of family life:

1. A randomized statewide telephone survey of 1000 Minnesota adults.
2. A 200-question in-person written survey of 850 Twin Cities metropolitan area adults and adolescents from 405 families, which purposely over-sampled families of color, "multi-problem" families, and families of different structures.
3. A dozen interactive group meetings, each composed of about 12 men, women and teens from five Twin Cities ethnic communities: African-American, American Indian, Chicano/Latino, Somali, and Vietnamese.

Using this combination of traditional research methods and innovative community-based information-gathering techniques, Tiesel's team collected data from roughly 2000 Minnesotans. Analysis of the data continues, but results have been called both startling and reassuring. (For more about the survey results, see the November 1997 issue of Minnesota Monthly magazine which contains the Minnesota Family Strength Project special section; ordering information is provided on the project homepage.)

Whet your appetite for family information with the briefing below and test your own family's strengths with a quick quiz. The official press release announcing findings is also available here.

Wives and husbands, and adult partners, did not have significantly different perceptions of family satisfaction, family strength, or satisfaction with spouse/partner.

Asked to name family members in any way they wanted, respondents listed pets as often as friends.

The best indicators of strong families:

• Communication among family members
  
• Spending time together
  
• Satisfaction with family
  
• Very good physical health
  
• Strong family origin
  
• Very religious or spiritual
  
• Satisfaction with spouse
  
• Intact marriage
  
• Broad definition of family

When data is broken down by family structure, differences in family strength are revealed. Here are family structures listed strongest to weakest (Note that the sample size of some family types was too small for these findings to be accurately projected across the entire population. Still, the data points to areas for further research):

• Gay/lesbian families without children
  
• Traditional families (two heterosexuals with children at home)
  
• Gay/lesbians with children
  
• Multigenerational families
  
• Single-parent families
  
• Single-person families
  
• Stepfamilies
  
• Co-habiting families without children
  
• Co-habiting families with children

The most frequent stressors were the most mundane, including:

• Lack of time to relax and unwind
  
• Household tasks that were undone
  
• Arguments between parents and children
  
• Children didn't complete chores

Adolescents saw their families as less strong than their parents did.

Families with children in the household were physically healthier, more satisfied with their family, more spiritual and religious, and gave their families stronger ratings than did families without children present.

If you are interested in additional information, or would like to set up a Families Worldwide Chapter in your community, please feel free to contact us via e-mail.

Families Worldwide
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Salt Lake City, UT 84047
USA

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