The development of the child's concept of the family.

Abstract
Twenty children each in kindergarten, grades 2 and 4, and 20 university students were questioned concerning their ideas about the structure of the family. Information was gathered on which persons children consider to be members of their own families, how a typical family is conceptualized and what criteria are used in judging whether a grouping of people represents a family. In considering their own families and in contructing typical families, no age differences were found. A nuclear family grouping was most salient in both cases and all respondents constructed similar typical families, consisting of 2 parents and their children. Major age-related differences were apparent in the criteria adopted for classifying groupings as instances of a family. Living together, contact between members, the presence of children, single parenthood, blood or legal relationship and same-sex vs. cross-sex partners were variables that were of differing importance as criteria for the respondents in the 4 age groups. The youngest subjects relied upon common residence and contact between members as the criteria for evaluating families whereas, with increasing age, emphasis was placed upon blood or legal relationship. Continuities and discontinuities in the development of the concept of the family, comparisons with the development of other concepts and implications for the child''s understanding of the process of divorce or separation are discussed.

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