Home Management Textbooks and the “Ideal” Family

Content analysis of systematically selected paragraphs of the three major textbooks used in teaching college‐level home management courses was used to examine the hypothesis that they portray, and implicitly endorse, an ideal family type. The open, closed, and random family typologies were examined, with the open‐family typology occurring significantly more often in home management textbooks than the closed‐family typology. Implications of the findings for home economists and family practitioners are discussed, including the critical reviewing of home economics textbooks for the portrayal of family stereotypes.