There's More to Being a Provider: Qualitative Exploration of Marriage Socialization of African-American men

Objective: The current study explores how African-American men are socialized about marriage. Background: The literature on African-American men and marriage largely focuses on attitudes toward and motivation to marry, paying little attention to how they come to form their attitudes that drive their motivation. It is important to understand how African-American men are socialized on the topic of marriage to provide a point of intervention and prevention for service providers and policy makers. Method: Focus groups were conducted with 17 African-American men between the ages of 24 and 35 years. They were asked semistructured questions that inquired about how, from whom, and what messages they learned about marriage. Results: Thematic analysis revealed that the men learned about marriage via implicit and explicit messages from their kinship network and media. Three themes emerged regarding messages about marriage: (a) Adherence to traditional gender roles, (b) Basing marriage on religion and spirituality, and (c) Importance of maintaining the family unit at all costs. Conclusion: The findings elucidate competing messages between western norms and Afrocentric norms of marriage and manhood, specific to the definition and operationalization of the provider role of men in marriage. Implications: The findings provide specific points of intervention and inquiry for clinicians and scholars whose work is with African-American men on the issues of marriage, gender roles, and masculine identity development.