ABSTRACT
The issues considered in this chapter have wide academic significance for those analysing intra-family relations. Of all the frame-works used in the study of the contemporary family (economic, social, ecological, etc.) the ‘humanistic’ one—by which is meant that which takes into account the personal make-up of the individual located in whatever familial structure—is acquiring increasing relevance. This is understandable; as academic knowledge about the individual deepens, so the demand increases for the application of more differentiated concepts and categories which will be more adequate for understanding the complex nature of the individual.
