Self-reliant means that family was highly interdependent and there was a deep level of commitment to the group. Self-reliance creates strong families that best care for their members. Men and women are inherently different in the skills and temperaments they bring to family. Fortunately, these skills complement each other in a natural gender division of labor that best meets social needs. Reality - Men and women are more alike than different.
Difference is largely due to social causes rather than biology.
The tasks assigned to men and women vary across culture and change over time. The naturalness of difference is ideological. The welfare state and a culture of poverty other cause has lead to a very high incidence of dysfunctional behavior in the African American family. Reality - Dysfunctional behavior is found among poorer African American families and can be explained by economic forces. Nonpoor African American families are rather conventional.