Niektóre prawidłowości cyklu rozwojowego rodziny

Abstract

This paper is an attempt at demonstration of certain demographic phenomena and processes in the light of the sociological concept of family life-cyle. First of all, I discuss here the following correlations. Levelling of the proportions of women and men in marital age and active parenthood period, typical for for country, creates favourable premises for high marriage frequency and family completeness (understood as the presence of both spouses) at the stage of active parenthood. Early age-at-marriage, early parenthod, limited number of children and condensation in time of the procreative functions of the family accompanied by the extension of human life time share to the extension of an average time in marriage to about 50 years. Of these more than a half takes the stage of active parenthood, and the remaining part makes the postparental stage. Shaping up of such a long postparental stage is a novelty to us, and socio-cultural effects of this phenomenon are likely to be more actue in the future. Even today we observe a kind of „juvenation" of successive generations within the family: parents are younger than before, same as grand-parents, as well as great-grand-parents, especially great -grand-mothers (it is due to higher male mortality rate at this age). This creates new intergenerational relationships within the family and new conditions for the socialization of children. Young families come to being generally under the condition of economic dependence from families of origine of both spouses. Relatively young grand-parents are most often occupationally active and their retirement age is usually long ahead of them. Care of small children is more and more often taken over by great-grand-mothers. Multiplied intergenerational relations within the family establish new concepts, behavioural patterns and customs.