Abstract

BARBOSA, Jacira da Silva  and  SAMPAIO, Sonia Maria Rocha. Matrifocal family: A children's experience. Estud. psicol. (Natal) [online]. 2017, vol.22, n.1, pp. 109-119. ISSN 1413-294X.  http://dx.doi.org/10.22491/1678-4669.20170012.

Children, as subjects who constitute the family unit, are subject to the consequences of the changes that have been taking place in structure and dynamics of kinship relations. Focusing on those changes, the present study aimed at investigating the way that children from matrifocal poor families have been dealing with this scenario. The study constitutes a qualitative research, based upon Urie Bronfenbrenner's Bioecological Theory of Human Development, and took children as fully-fledged and active social actors. Interviews were conducted, as well as, among children taken into care by an institution for psychotherapeutic services, Walter Trinca's Drawing-Story technique was applied. Results suggest some distance between the symbolic representation of the family and the actual situation faced by the children. They also reveal several difficulties which this singular form of family configuration has to cope with in the daily life.

Keywords : children; family; parenthood; human development.

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