ABSTRACT
Considerable research is available about some aspects of children’s ideas about families and family living (especially their knowledge of kinship relations), whereas little or none is available about other aspects (e.g., their knowledge of changes over time in family structures and activities). Edwards (1984) synthesized the findings of much of this research. She noted that young children are deeply concerned about people’s connections to one another and want to know to whom they particularly “belong.” Children realize that some of the people they know are special to them. They use kinship terms in talking about their social relationships, but often conflate friendships and family relationships. Adults define friendships as voluntary, self-chosen relationships based on ties of liking, common interests, and so on, but define family relationships in terms of genealogical and legal kinship connections. Young children usually do not understand these connections, so they are more likely to think about family in terms of closeness and support. In addition, the connections are blurred in some subcultures and individual families in which close friends are referred to as aunts, uncles, or cousins.
