Asian families uphold traditional values

Marriage is the key feature of Asian family life

Traditional values of marriage and the nuclear family are most likely to be found in Britain among Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities, research suggests.

In contrast, whites and Caribbeans are more likely to be single parents, divorcees or in co-habitating relationships.

Professor Richard Berthoud, of the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex, said traditional values were disappearing throughout British society, but most slowly in the South Asian community.

"The key feature of family life in South Asian communities is the very high rate of marriage," he said.

Traditional family values are being replaced by "modern individualism"

"Around three-quarters of Pakistani and Bangladeshi women are in partnerships by the age of 25, compared with just over half of white women.

"Virtually all South Asians with a partner are in a formal marriage and the proportion of women who have separated or divorced is less than half that recorded among whites."

The traditional values of South Asian communities contrast with changing patterns of behaviour in Britain generally.

In the 1970s, two-thirds of women in their late 20s were married with children, but now only a third are.

Mixed partnerships

The research report, Family Formation in Multicultural Britain: three Patterns of Diversity, also stresses there are more differences than similarities between the Carribean and Asian communities where family values are concerned.

"All non-white minorities may face a common experience of racism and harassment. But in most other spheres, it is the diversity between minority groups that is their most striking characteristic," the report says.

Only a third of women in their late 20s are married mothers

In the Asian community, 60% of adults are married. The equivalent figure in the Carribean community is 39%.

Only a quarter of all Carribean children have two black parents.

"The number of mixed partnerships among Caribbeans combined with the low rate of partnership and marriage in the first place, means that very few Caribbean men and women are married to each other," the report says.

The research also shows that Pakistani and Bangladeshi women are much more likely than white women to have "old-fashioned" economic relationships within the family.

The majority of them look after their homes and families full-time, rather than taking paid jobs, although this traditional role is becoming less common as more women obtain good educational qualifications.

Moralising

Professor Berthoud said the research findings indicated, overall, that traditional family values were slowly being replaced by "modern individualism".

"The objective fact is that white families are moving in a particular direction," he said.

"Pakistanis and Bangladeshis and, to a lesser extent Indians, are way behind that trend.

"Caribbeans are way out in front. But all the groups studied are moving in the same direction."

Professor Berthoud said his research was not meant to make valued judgements about people's lifestyles.

"This provides plenty of scope for moralising, from a white perspective, about the subordination of women to men and family (in one case) and irresponsible parenting (in the other).

"These issues are sorted out within the relevant communities."