Most Black Americans exchange emotional support with family members 

About this research

This Pew Research Center analysis focuses on how Black Americans define and experience family – that is, who is included in their family networks and how they provide support to one another.

Why did we do this?

Pew Research Center conducts research to inform the public, the media and decision-makers. This analysis builds on previous work about the importance of identity and family among Black Americans. It also builds on the Center’s work studying American families and relationships.

Learn more about Pew Research Center, our research on Black Americans and our race and ethnicity research.

How did we do this?

We surveyed 6,871 U.S. adults from June 16-29, 2025. Of the full sample, 3,657 respondents are members of Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel, including 1,057 Black respondents. The remaining 3,214 respondents are Black adults who are members of SSRS’s Opinion Panel. This brings the total Black sample in the survey to 4,271 Black adults. The survey is representative of the views of the full U.S. adult population.

Here are the survey questions used for this report, the detailed responses and the survey methodology.

Terminology

The terms Black Americans, Black adults and Black people are used interchangeably throughout this report to refer to U.S. adults who self-identify as Black, either alone or in combination with other races or Hispanic identity.

The terms being Black and Blackness are used interchangeably throughout the report to describe respondents’ answers to a question about Black racial identity: “How important is being Black to how you think about yourself?”

Black single-race, non-Hispanic respondents are those who identify as single-race Black and are not Hispanic. Black Hispanic respondents are those who identify as Black and Hispanic. Black multiracial respondents are those who indicate two or more racial backgrounds (one of which is Black) and say they are not Hispanic.

This analysis includes comparisons between Black Americans and other Americans. In these cases, other Americans, other adults and non-Black adults are used interchangeably to refer to U.S. adults who do not self-identify as Black.

Family refers to a group of people who are related to each other by birth, marriage, law or choice. In this analysis, family includes nuclear family members, such as spouses or partners, parents, and siblings; extended family members such as grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins; and non-relative family members such as longtime friends and people who have bonded over shared identities and experiences.

Immigrants refers to people born outside the 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico or other U.S. territories. U.S. born refers to people born in the 50 U.S. states, D.C., Puerto Rico or other U.S. territories.

References to college graduates or people with a college degree comprise those with a bachelor’s degree or more education. People with some college education are those with an associate degree or those who attended college but did not obtain a degree. People with a high school education or less refers to those who have a high school diploma or its equivalent, such as a General Educational Development (GED) certificate, or less education.

To create the upper, middle and lower income tiers, respondents’ 2023 or 2024 family incomes were adjusted for differences in purchasing power by geographic region and household size. Respondents were then placed into income tiers: Middle income is defined as two-thirds to double the median annual income for the entire survey sample. Lower income falls below that range, and upper income lies above it. For more information about how the income tiers were created, read the methodology.

Democrats are respondents who identify politically with the Democratic Party or those who are independent or identify with some other party but lean toward the Democratic Party. Similarly, Republicans are those who identify politically with the Republican Party and those who are independent or identify with some other party but lean toward the Republican Party.

This is one of five detailed sections in a report on how Black Americans define and support their family networks. The report also includes an overview of key findings.

Families that give and receive emotional support can play a key role in emotional well-being, social connections and physical health. For Black Americans, family is often characterized by close relationships with nuclear, extended and non-relative family members.

To understand these relationships, we conducted a national survey of U.S. adults – including 4,271 Black adults – in June 2025 to ask what their family emotional support networks look like. Who do they receive emotional support from, who do they give it to and how do these relationships make them feel?

The survey finds that exchanging support with a spouse or partner is most common. But Black adults are more likely than other Americans to share emotional support with people researchers usually refer to as extended family, such as grandparents, cousins, and aunts or uncles. Generally speaking, giving emotional support to family is a mostly positive experience for Black Americans.

A note on the analysis

Percentages for the questions on sharing emotional support with each family member are based only on respondents who have such a family member. For more information on how we asked these questions, refer to the questionnaire and topline.

Who do Black adults seek emotional support from?

Two-thirds of Black adults say it is extremely or very likely that they would turn to their spouse or partner for emotional support. And about half would seek emotional support from a non-relative they consider family (50%), a parent (49%) or a sibling (45%).

Smaller shares say they would turn to extended family when seeking emotional support, although Black adults are more likely to do this than other Americans. 

• 34% of Black adults say they are extremely or very likely to turn to a grandparent for emotional support, while 15% of other adults say they would do the same.
• 27% of Black adults say they would turn to a cousin for this support, compared with 10% of other adults.
• 24% of Black adults would turn to an aunt or uncle for emotional support, compared with 9% of other adults.

However, Black adults are less likely than other Americans to say they would turn to a spouse or partner (67% vs. 78%) or a non-relative they consider family (50% vs. 55%).

Differences by demographic group and views of Black identity

Black adults who say being Black is an important part of their personal identity are more likely than those who say Blackness is less important to seek emotional support from family. For example, 39% of those who say being Black is important to them say they would seek emotional support from a grandparent. That’s roughly double the share among those who see being Black as less important (20%).

Gender also plays a role: Black women are more likely than Black men to seek emotional support from nearly every family member included in the survey. (They’re about equally likely to seek support from grandparents.)

Who do Black adults give emotional support to?

As is the case among other Americans, Black Americans most often give emotional support to the family members they are closest to. Two-thirds say they give support to their spouse or partner extremely or very often (67%) and about half say the same about a non-relative family member (48%).

Black adults also often provide emotional support to nuclear family members like a sibling (38%) or parent (36%). Smaller shares give support to extended family members like a cousin (23%), a grandparent (21%) or an aunt or uncle (14%).

Differences by demographic group and views of Black identity

How Black adults see their own Black identity is linked to the emotional support they provide to their family networks. Half of those who say being Black is important to them provide support to a non-relative family member extremely or very often, compared with 37% of those who say being Black is less important. There is a similar pattern when it comes to providing support to a sibling, parent, cousin, and aunt or uncle.

When comparing across demographic groups, younger Black adults – those under 50 – are more likely than older adults to provide emotional support to each of the family members we asked about.

In particular, younger Black women stand out. Women under 50 are the most likely to give emotional support to a non-relative family member (62%), sibling (50%), parent (45%) or cousin (29%).

How does giving emotional support make Black Americans feel?

Many Black adults describe providing emotional support as a positive part of their family life.

Among Black adults who provide support to at least one family member, 46% find it rewarding and 36% say it’s enjoyable.

Smaller shares say they find it stressful (18%) or tiring (17%).

Compared with other Americans, Black adults are slightly more likely to find these exchanges:

• Enjoyable (36% vs. 29%)
• Stressful (18% vs. 13%)
• Tiring (17% vs. 10%)

Similar shares of Black and non-Black adults say they find it rewarding (46% and 44%).

There are modest differences in how some Black people feel providing emotional support to family.

Black adults who say being Black is an extremely or very important part of their personal identity are more likely than those who say Blackness is less important to find it rewarding (49% vs. 36%) and enjoyable (39% vs. 27%). Similar shares find it stressful or tiring.

Black adults under 50 are more likely than older Black adults to find giving emotional support stressful (21% vs. 12%) or tiring (21% vs. 11%). Meanwhile, these two groups are equally likely to say the experience was rewarding or enjoyable.