Households, families, and friends in a Hawaiian-American community

Abstract

Data concerning household membership and intimate personal networks from a Hawaiian-American homestead community are analyzed. Problems of defining concepts like "household" and "family" are considered and resolved in favor of operational measures. The analysis reveals a pattern of extended household structure based on bilateral options, with a distinct bias toward uxorilocal post-marital residence choice. This bias tends to bring together a core of lineally related women around whom households are formed and social relations rotate. The evidence also suggests that men are more unstable, diffusive and less economically conservative in social relationships than women. The differential significance of kinship and friendship relations, and changes in network composition associated with age are also discussed.