The traditional kinship organization of the Dakota Indians was compared with contemporary patterns of family living on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Effects of the cultural change on the economic and social conditions of the present day Pine Ridge Indians were evaluated. The study revealed remnants of the traditional kinship pattern and the nature of the changes which had taken place in the family organization during the transitional process, and offered suggestions to guide the direction of future change on the reservation. Three communities, located in a contiguous area on the Pine Ridge Reservation, were characterized as traditional, transitional, and transpositional. During the summers of 1956 and 1957, information on 86 families from these communities was gathered, using a series of previously prepared questions. Among the findings were: the traditional community had the smallest average family size and number of children per family and had most nearly retained elements of the Dakota kinship pattern; in the transitional community, over half of the families were broken by divorce, separation, or death; the transpositional community had the largest average family size and number of children per family and had most fully accepted a non-Indian family system resembling that in non-reservation areas; and although changes in Dakota culture were tremendous, many child-rearing practices and sharing patterns were retained. (NQ)