Name of Concept
Family Loyalty
Synonyms
Commitment; Family cohesion or unity; Filial loyalty; Filial obligations; Intergenerational solidarity and responsibility
Introduction
Loyalty, broadly defined as faithfulness or allegiance to individuals or groups, is linguistically originated from the Latin word lex (“law” or “statute”). It appears that various manifestations of loyalty have been recognized throughout the human history as part of belonging to associations and related identities. While the phenomenon of loyalty conveys a special importance for a family – a group of people connected through kinship ties, most in-depth explorations of the phenomenon are done by marketing, economics, political science, sociology, and religious scholars.
Though the term “family loyalty” is widely used in the family studies and family therapy fields, there is no clear or uniformed definition of the concept. Some aspects of the phenomenon and related concepts have been researched and discussed in...
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Baker, A. J., Mehta, N., & Chong, J. (2013). Foster children caught in loyalty conflicts: Implications for mental health treatment providers. The American Journal of Family Therapy, 41, 363–375. https://doi.org/10.1080/01926187.2012.728902.
Boszormenyi-Nagy, I., & Krasner, B. (1986). Between give and take: A clinical guide to contextual therapy. New York: Brunner/Mazel.
Boszormenyi-Nagy, I., & Spark, G. M. (1984). Invisible loyalties. New York: Brunner/Mazel.
Connor, J. (2007). The sociology of loyalty. New York: Springer.
De Valk, H., & Schans, D. (2008). ‘They ought to do this for their parents’: Perceptions of filial obligations among immigrant and Dutch older people. Ageing and Society, 28, 49–66. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0144686X07006307.
Ducommun-Nagy, C. (2002). Contextual therapy. In F. W. Kaslow (Ed. in Chief), R. F. Massey, & S. D. Massey (Vol. Eds.), Comprehensive handbook of psychotherapy, (4th ed., Vol. 3, pp. 463–488). New York: Wiley.
Gangamma, R. (2018). A phenomenological study of family experiences of resettled Iraqi refugees. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 44, 323–335. https://doi.org/10.1111/jmft.12251.
Gangamma, R., Bartle-Haring, S., & Glebova, T. (2012). A study of contextual therapy theory’s relational ethics in couples in therapy. Family Relations, 61, 825–835. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.17413729.2012.00732.x.
Hargrave, T. D., & Anderson, W. T. (1992). Finishing well: Aging and reparation in the intergenerational family. New York: Routledge.
Leathers, S. J. (2003). Parental visiting, conflicting allegiances, and emotional and behavioral problems among foster children. Family Relations, 52, 53–63. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3729.2003.00053.x.
Luo, B., & Zhan, H. (2012). Filial piety and functional support: Understanding intergenerational solidarity among families with migrated children in rural China. Ageing International, 37, 69–92. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12126-011-9132-1.
Staples, R., & Mirandé, A. (1980). Racial and cultural variations among American families: A decennial review of the literature on minority families. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 42, 887–903. https://doi.org/10.2307/351831.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Glebova, T., Gangamma, R. (2019). Family Loyalty. In: Lebow, J.L., Chambers, A.L., Breunlin, D.C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49425-8_347
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49425-8_347
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-49423-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-49425-8
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences