The Southwestern Social Work Association

March 18, 2011Family Values: What Are They and What Do They

Mean?Ken Wedel and Annie Smith

The University of Oklahoma Anne and Henry Zarrow School of Social WorkKnee Center for Strong Families

Outline of PresentationThe Importance of ValuesThe Conflictual Nature of ValuesValues DefinedSocial Work on ValuesFamily Values Defined (Review of

Literature)Survey on Family ValuesPreliminary ResultsDiscussion

The Importance of ValuesValues connect individuals to

society:

• Help ease the conflict between individuals and collective interests.

• Enable individuals to work together to realize collectively desirable goals.

The Importance of Values (continued)Values:

• Have an effect on aspects of choice, decisions regarding courses of action and outcomes, goals, attitudes, and behavior.

• Mold our beliefs and perceptions.

The Conflictual Nature of ValuesThe nature of values is often fraught with conflict:

“…Often contaminated by the connotation that values inherently contain a right-wrong, good-bad component (Trotzer, 1981).

Results in “judgments of affirmation or condemnation” (Trotzer, 1981).

Values DefinedThe concept of values is

considered broad & encompasses numerous definitions:• Kluckholn and Stodtbeck (1961) –

“Values answer basic existential questions, helping to provide meaning in people’s lives.”

• Building Family Values (2000)-“Values are a reflection of who we are, of our culture, and of our own unique heritage.”

Values Defined (continued)

Rokeach (1979)- “Values are core conceptions of the desirable within every individual and society. They serve as standards or criteria to guide not only action, but judgment, choice, attitude, exhortation, rationalization, and one might add, attribution of causality.”

Rokeach (1973)-“They (values) lead us to take particular positions on social issues and they predispose us to favor one ideology over another.”

Social Work on ValuesNASW Code of Ethics – “The Code identifies core values on which social work’s mission is based.”

“They (social workers) should be aware of the any conflicts between personal and professional values and deal with them responsibly.”

“Social workers also should be aware of the impact on ethical decision making of their clients’ and their own personal values and cultural and religious beliefs and practices.”

Family Values DefinedAll families possess values which

vary with the diversity of families:

• Trotzer (1981)– “Families and family members espouse certain identifiable values characteristic of their peculiar heritage in interaction with their surrounding environment.”

Family Values Defined (continued)

Families and family values have changed in American culture over the years:• Thornton (1989)– Study examined

changing values and norms in regards to family life over a period of 30 years. Revealed changes in norms regarding

marriage, childbearing, and the roles of men and women.

Similarity between family values and broader social trends.

Family Values From a Political PerspectiveFamily Values Rhetoric:• The concept of family values is conflictual.

Has subsequently been used as controversial political ammunition.

• Cahn and Carbone (2010)- Red Families v. Blue Families.• Cloud (2010)-performed an extensive

analysis of the political use of the term family values. 1992 Presidential Elections.

Survey Study on Family ValuesImportance

Little is known about family values espoused by social workers and how these values might impact their practice with families.

Survey Study on Family ValuesPurpose

We are conducting a survey of Oklahoma National Association of Social Workers (NASW) – Oklahoma Chapter members to obtain information about family values and their priorities for professional practice.

Survey Study on Family ValuesPurpose

Study represents an initial look at family values of social workers ◦Will attempt to explain how congruent

they may be with those of the individuals and families for whom they provide services or administer policy practice.

Focuses on one aspect of core values that addresses the importance of human relationships◦Purposeful efforts to promote, restore,

maintain and enhance the well-being of families.

Survey on Family Values : MethodsPreliminary Participants

16 OU School of Social Work undergraduate students enrolled in the Spring 2011 practicum seminar were recruited to participate in a preliminary values survey session.

Survey on Family Values : MethodsExperimental Design and Study Participants

Research Survey Design◦We have acquired a list of NASW-OK

members and their email addresses from the NASW-OK office.

◦We will draw a sample of 950 NASW-OK members to be surveyed and invite them to participate in the study.

◦ An email survey will be administered using the Qualtrics online survey methodology.

Survey on Family Values : MethodProposed Procedure

We will use NASW-OK members as our participant pool. ◦A sample of NASW-OK members will

be contacted by email, informing of the study and to asking them to participate in the online survey.

Results from Preliminary SessionHomeschooling vs. Formal (Public/Private Schooling)

Results from Preliminary SessionNo-Fault Divorce vs. Grounds to Grant Divorce

Results from Preliminary Session Personal Satisfaction Above Family Life/Needs vs. Family

Life/Needs Above Personal Satisfaction

Results from Preliminary SessionDiscipline of Children by Family Only vs. Discipline of

Children by Sources Outside the Family

Results from Preliminary SessionMarriage with Strict Lifelong Conditions (Covenant Marriage) vs. Marriage w/o Strict Lifelong Conditions (Non-Covenant Marriage)

Results from Preliminary SessionThe Teaching of Values to Children Belongs Only in the Home vs. The Teaching of Values to Children Can Occur in Many Different Venues

Results from Preliminary SessionParochial Schools (Schools with Religious Affiliations) vs.

Secular Schools (Schools w/o Religious Affiliations)

Results from Preliminary SessionNo Active Role of Religion in Childrearing vs. Active Role

of Religion in Childrearing

Results from Preliminary SessionChildren Raised in a Single Parent Family vs. Children

Raised in a Two Parent Family

Results from Preliminary SessionMarriage Within the Same Faith vs. Interfaith Marriage

Results from Preliminary SessionHaving Children Within Wedlock vs. Having Children

Outside of Wedlock

Results from Preliminary SessionReligious Values Taught in Schools vs. Religious Values

Taught Outside of Schools

Results from Preliminary SessionFavoring Creationism to Explain The Origins of Human Beings vs.

Favoring Evolution to Explain the Origins of Human Beings

Results from Preliminary SessionSex Education Within Schools And Other Venues vs. Sex

Education Only Within the Family

Results from Preliminary SessionThe Bible (or Other Religious Texts) is an Adequate Source for the Teaching of Values vs. There are Many Different Sectors for the Teaching of Values

Results from Preliminary SessionAbstinence Before Marriage vs. Engaging In Sex Before

Marriage

Results from Preliminary SessionSame-Sex Marriage vs. Marriage Between Only a Man

and a Woman

Results from Preliminary SessionPro-Life vs. Pro-Choice

ReferencesBuilding Family Strengths: Values. (2000, March). Clemson Extension: Family Relationships.

Retrieved from: http://virtual.clemson.edu/groups/psapublishing/PAGES/FYD/FL523.pdfCahn, N. & Carbone, J. (2010). Red Families v. Blue Families: Legal Polarization and the

Creation of Culture. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Cloud, D. (1998). The rhetoric of <family values>:Scapegoating, utopia, and the

privatization of social responsibility. Western Journal of Communication, 62(4), 387-419. Retrieved from EBSCOhost database.

National Association of Social Workers. (approved 1996, revised 2008). Code of Ethics of

the National Association of Social Workers. Retrieved from http://www. naswdc.org /pubs/code/code.asp

Rokeach, M. (1973). The Nature of Human Values. New York, NY: The Free Press.Rokeach, M. (1979). Understanding Human Values: Individual and Societal. New York, NY:

The Free Press.Thornton, A. (1989). Changing Attitudes toward Family Issues in the United States. Journal

of Marriage and Family, 51(4), 873-893. Retrieved from http://www. jstor.org/stable/ 353202

Trotzer, J.P. (1981). The Centrality of Values in Families and Family Therapy. International

Journal of Family Therapy, 3(1), 42-55. doi:0148-8384/81/1300-0042$00.95

DiscussionThank You!Questions?