Changes in the perception of family formation and development and the relationship between generations in Poland

Ewelina Slotwinska-Roslanowska, Warsaw School of Economics

The changes concerning family formation and development have been observed in Poland as well in the whole Europe for at least five decades – the fertility decreases far below the replacement rate, the proportion of extramarital births increases significantly and the marriages formed usually at older than several decades age are far less stable. At the same time the relations between generations suffer incremental changes. Increase of the proportion of elderly people in the society combined with the decrease in the number of multigenerational households means an inevitable change in intergenerational relationship. The main focus of the article is to present the changes in the perception of the processes of family formation and development as well as the attitude to the change of the relationship between generations. The changes itself will also be described. Due to the two-direction-analysis the paper is divided into two main sections – the first dealing with the actual family changes as well as the intergenerational relationships, whereas the latter focuses on the perception of the changes between 2001 and 2011, the years of two surveys carried out in Poland. The analyses are based on the data from two sample surveys: Gender and Generation Survey (GGS-PL) carried in Poland in 2010/2011 and the Policy Acceptance Study (PPA) carried in 2001. Basic descriptive statistics and correlations will be presented to support the conclusions coming from the qualitative analysis.