Journal of GLBT Family Studies, 8:334–360, 2012 Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 1550-428X print / 1550-4298 online DOI: 10.1080/1550428X.2012.705620 Cross-Cultural Family Structure among Muslim, Hindu, Santal, and Oraon Communities in Rasulpur, Bangladesh MD. EMAJ UDDIN University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi, Bangladesh The purpose of this study was to compare family structure pat- terns among Muslim, Hindu, Santal, and Oraon communities in rural Bangladesh. For this we hypothesized that family structure patterns—marriage, family type and size, residence, role sharing, authority, communication, and property distribution—were not only significantly different but that these patterns of the family structure were also significantly interrelated among the ethnic com- munities in rural Bangladesh. In so doing 585 males of the ethnic communities selected by cluster random sampling were intensively interviewed with a semi-structural questionnaire in Rasulpur of Bangladesh. Results of Pearson chi-square testing suggest that the family structure patterns were significantly varied. The results of Spearman bivariate correlation coefficients also suggest that the family structure patterns were significantly interrelated among the communities in rural Bangladesh. Further cross-cultural research should be conducted on why and how family structure patterns are significantly different among the communities in Bangladesh. KEYWORDS family structure, Muslim, Hindu, Santal, Oraon, cross-cultural comparison, Bangladesh INTRODUCTION Family structure is the fundamental building block of social structure in every community or society. Actually, although family structure all over the world is a universal phenomenon, the definition of a family, its structure, and func- tion much depends upon the cultural patterns of a particular community or Address correspondence to Md. Emaj Uddin, Department of Social Work, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi-6205, Bangladesh. E-mail: emaj691@yahoo.com 334