Different Family Arrangements from the Perspective of Pre-teens

Abstract

Economic and social transformations, in the second half of the 20th century, led to changes in concepts of family. This study aimed to investigate the conceptual perspective of 40 children regarding the new configurations of the contemporary family. The children were between 11 and 14 years old, belonged to nuclear and single-parent arrangements, and wrote their answers. The results indicate that the nuclear family continues to be seen as the ‘most perfect’ family. Remarried and single-parent families were classified as ‘not good’, while extended families were perceived with more positive qualifications than negative ones. The results suggest the need to investigate how new family configurations are perceived by children of different age groups and family arrangements.

Keywords:
family; family arrangements; family configurations; adolescence