Children of Incarcerated Parents

to 90% of all US families. According to
Billingsley, the African-American
incipient nuclear family structure is
defined as a married couple with no
children.
In 1992 47% of African-American
families had an incipient nuclear family
in comparison to 54% of all US incipient
nuclear families. The African-American
simple nuclear family structure has been
defined as a married couple with
children. This is the traditional norm for
the composition of African-American
families. In 1992 25% of African-
American families were simple nuclear
families in comparison to 36% of all US
families. Almost 70 percent of black
children are born to single mothers.
The African-American segmented
nuclear I (unmarried mother and
children) and II (unmarried father and
children) family structures are defined
as a parent–child relationship. In 1992,
94% of African-American segmented
nuclear families were composed of an
unmarried mother and children. Glick's
research found that single parent
families are twice as prevalent in
African-American families as they are in
other races, and this gap continues to
widen.
African-American Extended Families
Billingsley's research continued with the
African-American extended family
structure, which is composed of primary
members plus other relatives. Extended
families have the same sub-structures
as nuclear families, incipient, simple,
segmented I, and segmented II, with the
addition of grandparents, aunts, uncles,
cousins and additional family members.
Billingsley's research found that the
extended family structure is
predominantly in the segmented I substructured
families.
In 1992 47% of all African-American
extended families were segmented
extended family structures, compared to
12% of all other races
combined. Billingsley's research shows
that in the African-American family the
extended relative is often the
grandparents.
African-American
Augmented Families
Billingsley's research revealed another
type of African-American family, called
the augmented family structure, which is
a family composed of the primary
members, plus nonrelatives. Billingsley's
case study found that this family
structure accounted for 8% of Black
families in 1990. This family structure is
different from the traditional norm family
discussed earlier, it combines the
nuclear and extended family units with
nonrelatives. This structure also has the
incipient, simple, segmented I, and
segmented II sub-structures.
Non-Family Households
Billingsley introduced a new family
structure that branches from the
augmented family structure. The
African-American population is starting
to see a new structure known as a nonfamily
household. This non-family
household contains no
relatives. According to Glick in 1992,
37% of all households in the United
States were a nonfamily household, with
more than half of this percentage being
African-Americans.
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