THE PRESENTATION OF MINORITIES IN MARRIAGE AND FAMILY TEXTBOOKS

This study updates and extends Bryant and Coleman's analysis of the po rtrayal of the black family in marriage and family textbooks. Twenty o f the best-selling marriage and family textbooks published between 198 6 and 1990 were examined for their descriptions of four minority group s: African Americans, Asian Americans, Latino Americans, and Native Am ericans. The results showed that marriage and family textbooks still d evote very little attention to minorities. Overall, 2.1 percent of the space was devoted to racial-ethnic families, even though people of co lor constitute more than 25 percent of the population. Some groups, su ch as Native Americans, received almost no coverage at all. Finally, a lthough much of the material was presented from a culturally equivalen t approach, textbook authors discussed minority families from a cultur ally deviant perspective.