ABSTRACT
This paper presents an analysis of the qualitative aspects of kinship interaction among Japanese Americans in Honolulu. Based on semistructured interviews with 104 families, the findings indicate an increase in kinship solidarity with the third generation. Explanations of these findings utilize theories of exchange and reciprocity. When exchange processes operate to encourage indebtedness and take place in an interdependent network of kin relationships, an obligatory pattern of interaction results. Since this pattern differs from the option model of the modified extended family, it is suggested that research on kinship should go beyond measures of contact and aid to a study of mechanisms which reinforce the solidarity of some extended family structures.
