ABSTRACT
In what is now regarded by many as a seminal article, Vonnie McLoyd (1990) noted that the prevalence of research on ethnic minority children and families has shifted with changes in the nation’s economic and political climate. Historically, interest has mostly been crisis oriented. A group largely ignored in developmental literature in times past, ethnic minority families, particularly African Americans, became? the focus of much concern beginning in the early 1960s as domestic poverty was thrust into the forefront of the nation’s attention. A resurgence of interest occurred during the 1980s, due in large part to the alarming decline of ethnic minority families on indicators of quality of life. As the status of these families as a priority for research was subject to change, so too was the focus of the research itself.
