Family Diversity from the Perspective of Early Childhood Education Students

Abstract

Family diversity is a reality in Spanish Early Childhood Education schools. However, there is little research on the perspective of teachers and families on this type of diversity, and even fewer studies on the viewpoint of children in Early Childhood Education. This study analyzed the perception of family diversity among 156 Early Childhood Education children from three schools in the province of Granada (Spain). Alongside the use of the ‘Family Diversity Questionnaire for Children’, a quantitative study was conducted with a non-experimental, descriptive, cross-sectional, and comparative design. Descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, and mode) and frequencies were calculated. After assessing the normality of the data using the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test, inferential analyses were performed, using Student’s t-tests and ANOVA tests to determine whether there were any significant differences. The results showed that the nuclear family was the most recognized family structure by the children, in contrast to the one-person family, which was the least recognized. As for the happiness level, the extended family was identified as the happiest typology, while the divorced family was the one with the lowest happiness level.