Family representations of preschool age children living in families of different socio-economic status

Abstract

A child's family representation is one of the crucial factors of psychological and social development in older preschoolers. The article emphasizes that the relationships between a child's family socioeconomic status (SES) and family representation are mediated. Family members' perception and evaluation of their socioeconomic status are conditioned with subjective economic well-being. It influences family functioning which, in its turn, conditions particular characteristics of a child's emotional experiences in family situation and his/her family representations. The analysis of relationships between subjective economic well-being of family members and a child's family representations demonstrates the trend to increase in severity of poor well-being markers in case of increase of parental markers of financial stress, financial deprivation and financial anxiety. An empirical classification of family representation types in children from families with various SES is provided. It includes positive family representation “Favorable family”, family representation with some elements of disharmony “Unstable family”, representation of a distant family “Distant family”, conflict family representation “Conflict family”, negative family representation “Unfavorable family”.