ABSTRACT
This chapter identifies major strands in research on transitional events related to the family unit and focuses on the transition to parenthood, and the ongoing process of family development including becoming a sibling, the ‘empty nest’, blended families and the transition to grand-parenthood. It demonstrates the diversity and complexity in family transitions. The chapter highlights the interdependent nature of family trajectories. It suggests that family has a broad meaning, beyond a biological unit, and that family transitions are experienced in multiple family settings and structures. Globally, parenthood is increasingly separated from marriage and there is a trend to delay parenting, often for professional reasons, or to choose not to parent. Parenthood tends to occur as part of a set of collective transitions – a woman’s transition to motherhood accompanies her partner’s transition to parenthood; her other children’s to becoming siblings; and her parents’ to becoming grandparents.
