The other 13% of parents in the study displayed patterns of response that did not fit clearly into any of the four family cultures. They therefore remained unclassified, rather than trying to fit them into a category that didn’t serve them well.

It is important to note that the four family cultures described in this study highlight significant cultural differences between American families. But within each culture there is considerable diversity. And some families, as Greg points out, don’t fit as squarely into a particular type as do others. As is true for any general label — capitalism versus socialism, Evangelical versus progressive Protestant, liberal versus conservative — typological distinctions are generally tidier than the complicated realities of people’s lives that they attempt to summarize. Typologies perform a useful interpretive function, but they never capture all the particularity of specific families or individuals.