Elisabetta Carrà

ABTSRACT Relational reflexivity (RR) is an increasingly important aspect in order to understand the agency of individuals and the couple’s life, particularly in postmodern society. This mixed-methods research aimed to observe different dimensions of RR in 32 couples (25–40 years), married or cohabiting with at least one child, during the process of building the “we.” Quantitative instruments (Perspective Taking Scale, Couple Generativity Scale, Quality of Marriage Index) together with semi-structured interviews with the administration of projective instruments (the family line and IOS scale) were used to collect information about this process. With the first set of results, the couples were classified into 3 groups with different levels of relational reflexivity (high, medium, and low). Each group had specific dynamics and ways to deal with the challenges of life as a couple. The construction of the “we” was a common process for all of them influenced by structural elements (marriage, cohabitation number of children and relationship duration) but couples differed in their communication processes, social resources, intergenerational relationships and ways of managing stressors. This study provides an innovative assessment of couples, based on their reflexivity, and suggestions for the development of new kinds of intervention to foster couple reflexivity.

The aim of this research was to delineate how families with children aged 0–13 manage their well-being, which mainly depends on the balance between two main components, which are child-rearing and work. For the purpose of this study, family well-being is regarded, according to Archer’s morphogenetic theory, as the well-balanced order of family members’ ultimate concerns which gives rise to a sustainable modus vivendi for the whole family. To explain how a family establishes its own modus vivendi as a specific set of practices, Donati’s relational approach is used, based on the assumption that a relational reflexivity is what steers a family agency and its interaction with structural conditioning. Depending on different cultural and structural factors (financial resources, family form, geographical area of residence), families can be expected to adopt specific ways of life and derive their overall life satisfaction from different elements. The present article is aimed at verifying this hypothesis through a secondary analysis of data from the ISTAT Multipurpose Survey on Households: Aspects of Daily Life – 2012, including a sample of 3,745 families with children aged 0–13. Results show that the ways of life (modi vivendi) of families with children aged 0–13 vary significantly. Furthermore, satisfaction with work and with family relationships plays a key role in predicting overall life satisfaction, thus overshadowing the importance of the financial situation.

After separation or divorce, people generally experience a deterioration of health, not only in terms of physical well‐being but also in terms of emotional and social well‐being. In addition, when separated, individuals are parents as well and they are concerned with the well‐being of their children. The main task for separated parents is to maintain a parental alliance (coparenting) for the sake of their children's well‐being. Social support is a critical resource, which helps parents face their new life condition, promoting their psychological well‐being. In recent years in Italy, many associations targeting separated and divorced parents have been founded: They support ex‐partners during and after separation and are active in defending their rights. These associations are voluntary associations/non‐profit organisations and self‐help groups, which are constituted by parents themselves who associate to support each other in the tasks connected with separation. The present study investigated, with an explorative aim, the role of these associations for separated parents’ well‐being and coparenting abilities. In particular, drawing on a sample of 318 Italian separated parents (73.30% fathers; 26.70% mothers) belonging to a formal association targeting separated parents, the study analysed whether and how the perception of being supported by the association was related to psychological and relational well‐being and to coparenting. Results showed that the more parents perceived to be supported by the association the less they were depressed, the more they were satisfied with the relationship with children and friends, and the more they displayed coparenting abilities. Our findings suggest that social support from these associations is a resource for separated parents’ health.

The article is an illustration, from a sociological viewpoint, of the epistemological and methodological scope of the relational approach to the study of the family. From this perspective (Section 1), the family can be identified as a social relationship of full reciprocity between sexes 1 and generations, to be neither replaced nor confused with anything else (family genome), thus highlighting the advantages of the relational approach compared to other contemporary approaches, defined as relationist/relationistic. Section 2 focuses on the Added Value of the Relational Method from logical, methodological and empirical levels. The main traits of the family research are to consider the family as a unicum and its relational and historical nature. The AGIL scheme helps to analyse the family as a suigeneris relationship by identifying its constitutive resources (A), aims (G), norms (I) and latent cultural model (L).

The ever‐growing number of out‐of‐home children in Italy over the last decade has urged an assessment of the available care services. Although foster care is spreading rapidly, many young people are still housed in residential facilities. Reflection on residential care quality has intensified at both a national and an international level. This paper presents the results of a study on residential care facilities for children and young people in the region of Northern Italy (Lombardy). Four dimensions of ‘quality’ are considered: efficiency, effectiveness, participation in planning and intervention, and empowerment of children and their family relationships. The combined effects of these dimensions are defined as ‘relational quality’. The results show that residential care facilities are generally good, while Social Services resources often appear inadequate for interventions aimed at birth families (efficiency). The well‐being of children in residential care facilities is high, even if they tend to move from one facility to another, rarely returning to their birth family (effectiveness). The involvement of children and their families at different stages of the care path is limited (participative approach). Finally, the most critical element is the failure to properly involve birth families (empowerment).