Race, ethnicity, and culture in studies of families in context

Family scholars have developed a greater sensitivity to the relative neglec t of families of color in research. However, there are a number of limitati ons in the research on families of color; specifically, race and ethnicity are often confounded with socioeconomic indicators and community of residen ce. This makes it difficult to identify the true effects of ethnicity and c ulture. In addition, race and ethnicity, may interact with chronic poverty in such a way as to further interfere with and reduce life opportunities. H ere we discuss some of the theoretical and conceptual issues pertaining to race, ethnicity, and culture as they affect family functioning and children 's development. In addition, we introduce a collection of papers that addre ss family functioning and children's development among families who are div erse ethnically, racially, socioeconomically,, and by geographical location and community. The issues posed in this paper and in the Special Section c hallenge the field to reconsider how we study families and child developmen t from culturally grounded perspectives.