Family and household structure in Vietnam: Some glimpses from a recent survey

The conventional portrait of Vietnamese family structure, both in popular discourse and in much of the scholarly literature, resembles the East Asian Confucian model with patrilineal and patrilocal traditions. Data from a recent sample survey in rural and urban areas of Vietnam show more complex patterns with independent living arrangements more common than shared residence with either the father's or mother's family. Social ties between adults and their nearby, but non-co-resident, parents are very close for both men and women, but men have more frequent contact with their parents than do women. Vietnamese family organization appears to have elements of both the East Asian Confucian tradition and the bilateral family structure that characterizes Southeast Asian societies.