Beyond four walls
Americans and their friends and family

From Mom and Dad to Cousin Mary to the family friend known as “Uncle” Joe, family can hold a variety of meanings. Who is your extended family? What exactly is your relationship to the big brother off at college, the older sister who was just married and has her own home, the grandmother who moves in, the cousins on the other side of town and even the college roommate who has been like a sister to you?   Does it really matter? In the strictest definition of the term, “extended family” refers to members of three or more generations of the same family related either through bloodline or marriage. But for many Americans how they view their relationship with their relatives is all, well, “relative.”

“How I view the relationship all depends on how much I communicate with a family member and how close we are,” comments Kathy Hillman of Indianapolis, Ind. “I would count my sister, with whom I am very close, and my mother in Florida, as well as my stepson and his family, as part of my immediate family. I would also include my sister-in-law in that circle, but I see my brother-in-law as more extended family. I just communicate more with my sister-in-law and feel closer to her.”

“We have developed a much more pragmatic notion of extended family,” concurs Dr. Mark Hutter, professor of sociology at Rowan  University in Glassboro, N.J., and author of “The Changing Family” (Allyn & Bacon, 1998). “Today, our definition of extended family all depends on the people we are most actively involved with. It could refer to brothers, sisters, grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins and even close friends. The definition really varies according to the people we feel have the most impact in our lives.”

A recent survey conducted by Harris Interactive™ and sponsored by Modern Woodmen of America of Rock Island, Ill., concurs with Dr. Hutter. According to that survey, the majority of Americans hold an inclusive view of extended family.

“As we talked to Americans about their relationships with extended family, we began to wonder exactly how they define their extended family,” explains Sharon Snawerdt of Modern Woodmen of America. “The survey revealed that people consider extended family to reach beyond the four walls of their home.”

In the survey, nine out of 10 Americans view extended family to include nieces