Family Values of Contemporary Ukrainian Youth in Across-Cultural Context

Abstract

Family transformations in different countries have both common tendencies and differences that are reflected in young people’s perceptions of the family and family values. The article purpose is to analyse the family values of contemporary Ukrainian youth, taking into account the cross-cultural context.

The performed analysis shows the similarity of family development trends in Ukraine and other European countries: moving away from the traditional family model, experimenting with other forms of relationships, postponing marriages and births of children etc., which is reflected in the family values of youth. At the same time, young people believe that an ideal family is rather a family with traditional structures and with a partner-type relationship, but with a certain imbalance in role distribution. The striking differences in family value perceptions characteristic for boys and girls testify to the significant influence of gender stereotypes. Keeping some of the traditional views, Ukrainian youth are actively experimenting with new forms of partnership/family. Young people’s perceptions of the family are contradictory: the idealized traditional model is combined with their willingness to experiments; the focus on partnerships is mixed with gender stereotype influence.