I have been analysing for years thousands of lists of significant family members given by a variety of respondents, from college students to senior citizens, from individuals in long lasting married couples to individuals in stepfamily households, from pregnant women at risk of putting their child into custody, to young adults from foster families, in Switzerland or elsewhere. Those lists made it possible to reconsider the issue of family diversity without referring priorly to family structures but to a variety of processes of family inclusiveness or exclusiveness that have their own relational logics. My presentation will describe such logics and stress their social roots, while acknowledging their ordinary and extraordinary nature.

This symposium reports recent findings from a longitudinal study of family life in Denmark. The study is based on a representative panel of inhabitants in Denmark, born 1968 (N=989). Two waves of data were collected, using a structured survey questionnaire. The first wave was collected in 2003, the second wave was collected in 2014.

The aim is to study the impact of ongoing societal modernization and individualization on family life. The research focus is on the relationship between individuality and communality in everyday family life. The specific role of welfare state institutions, work-life and different modes of relating between family members and across generations, households and social networks is investigated.

The approach is social psychological, following Asplund (1983) and Dencik (2005) theories focusing on the mutual interaction and interdependence between the individual and the social. This project was also informed by theories of family practices (Morgan 1996), post-familial family (Beck-Gernsheim 1998) and a concept of network family (Bäck-Wiklund & Johansson 2003)

The symposium will comprise an overall introduction to the project followed by three individual papers, each focusing on different elements in the social life of families living in radically modern conditions. The first paper analyses what contributes to continuity and stability over time in families. The second paper analyses transformations over time with respect to intergenerational and kinship relationships. The third paper analyses the interactions of the individual’s work-life and family life over time.

The first paper is an outline of the background for the study and it’s methodological and theoretical framework.

The study, Family Forms and Cohabitation in the Modern Welfare State (FAMOSTAT), was originally funded by the National Danish Research Council for the Human Sciences.

Its focus is on the transformations of family life as a consequence of societal modernization in Denmark.

The project was informed by Dencik’s (1996) social psychological perspective on family life, arguing that the impact of modernization should be studied through empirical investigations of everyday family life. Following Asplund’s (1983) notion of the mutual relationships between individuality and communality represented by the slash in the individual/social signifier, the project set out to study how communality and individuality are lived in different households.

Based on a randomized sample (n=1600) of people born in 1968, living in Denmark in 2003, a statistical representative number were included in the panel (n=989). The panel has participated in two waves of data collection. One in 2003, collected via Computer Assisted Telephone Interviews, and one in 2014, based on a web-based survey (n=457). The original questionnaire (IFUSOFF) was adopted to the web-format (IFUSOFF II), adding more questions on the work-life/family-life balance.

This paper discusses the impact of modernization and individualization on family life. It does so by tracing changes in configurations of family life and social networks between 2003 and 2014, and by analyzing transformations of social practices of everyday life.

Initial findings from this study show that 81% of the respondents who lived with a partner in 2014 lived with the same partner in 2003. This paper analyzes this stability in couple relationship. The empirical focus is on social and emotional support, on the character of the social networks as well as gender equality among partners.

The paper discusses how emphasis on individualization can lead to new forms of we-ness and togetherness in everyday family life. The question is if data supports theories that claim that we are witnessing new configurations of familial relations and the we need to adjust our ways of thinking about the configuration of the individual/social relationship in everyday family life. The paper examines the concepts about the ‘post familial family’ as well as ‘the network family’ and their usefulness in the study of contemporary family practices.

In this paper we describe and analyze transformations of the social interaction patterns that have taken place over the years 2003 – 2014 within the three-generational span of families in Denmark. Data telling the frequency and character of parents’ – in 2014 they are 45 years old – interaction with their own parents and other kinsfolk are presented and analyzed. The role of new communication technologies is considered in this context.

One aspect of societal modernization is that people increasingly have to share life with persons with whom they share less and less of experiences. In that light we analyze our preliminary data indicating that little more than 50% of the 45-years old parents hade been in contact with their child living outside the home of the respondent during their day yesterday, 75% of them by some kind of new electronic devices such as Skype, SMS, etc. Such devices are frequently also used in our middle-aged respondents’ contact with their own parents. 20 % are in daily contact with their elderly parent and more than 50% of our respondents have such contacts at least once a week.

Our preliminary data indicate frequent and tight interactions between generations within the family and also among adult siblings. By way of conclusion these findings are analyzed and explained in relation to the impact of societal modernization on family life.

An increasing number of families has to meet the challenges of working in a 24-7 society and at the same time striving to take part in everyday family life. Research is not conclusive with respect to what degree atypical working hours has an impact on, for example, work-family balance, instable marriages or in general the intimate social activities of families. That is, some research point to the fact that having atypical working hours in families might have positive influence on family social activities, like supporting possibilities for the number of activities in which mothers and/or fathers participate in together with their children (e.g. enjoying breakfasts together). On the other hand other research shows that factors like both parents having atypical working hours and small children in the home suggests a negative impact on family life. In addition, not much research has scrutinized the impact of the introduction of atypical and long working hour in families that hitherto has had normal working hours and the other way round what happens in families that have had atypical working patterns and later come to experience normal work hours. These are examples of questions we are exploring through our longitudinal survey study of everyday family and work-life. So in short, this paper will present and discuss an analysis of the relationship between work life and intimate family life social activities as they evolve over time and across households.

This symposium brings together European experts on the micro-macro-links between “generations” in families and societies and assess the interdependencies between social policies and family structures from different perspectives. The papers will focus on the links between demographic changes, different legislations and policies, social exclusion and childlessness and intergenerational solidarity and support in Europe.

There are numerous assumptions about how demographic changes at the macro level have changed individuals’ family structures at the micro level. Bridging the two levels is, however, less straightforward than what it might seem. In this presentation, I will highlight some of the challenges by focusing on the following two concepts: “the parent support ratio” and “the sandwich generation”. These are interrelated terms, but linked to different levels. The first is a constructed macro-level indicator, and is defined by the number of individuals 80 (or 85) and older (assumingly parents in need of care) per 100 persons aged 50-64 (assumingly these parents’ children). The second, on the other hand, is supposed to illustrate family reality on a micro level. Although the “sandwich generation” over the years has been used for different generational positions in the family, it was originally coined to describe the experience of 45-65 year olds in four generational family structures (Miller 1981) – a situation several scholars have stressed is becoming increasingly common in ageing societies. To illustrate my argument about difficulties in moving from considerations of population ageing on a macro level to implications for family structures on a micro level, I will use population statistics and survey data (GGS) from selected European countries.

A social psychological approach to interdependent or “linked” lives (Elder, 1994) dominates the literature. The starting point of this paper is that interdependence is not only social-psychological, but is also structured on a macro-level. Focusing on national policies, I distinguish the ways in which legislation mandates generational interdependence (e.g., legal obligations to provide financial support), blocks generational interdependence (e.g., grandparents not granted the right to raise grandchildren when parents cannot provide adequate care; migration laws not granting temporary visits to enable the provision of care), explicitly shapes intergenerational interdependence (e.g., daddy quota), and implicitly shapes intergenerational interdependence (e.g., grandparental care in Southern Europe in the absence of publicly funded parental support). I pay specific attention to childless men and women, questioning the primacy assigned to kinship ties in the health care and long-term support policies. Gender receives consistent consideration throughout the paper.

Family members help each other in case of need but also due to love and concern for each other. Thus, the family is a safety net, especially in times of crises. We know that most transfers flow between parents and their adult children and functional solidarity is a crucial dimension of intergenerational relations. Until now, however, little attendance has been given to exchange patterns between economically deprived family members within different policy contexts. We thus assess how transfers between older parents and their adult children are linked to social exclusion across Europe on the micro and the macro level; i.e. do socially excluded give less and receive more money and practical help, and do different policy regimes play a role? Using the new exclusion items from the fifth wave of SHARE, we focus the effects of deprivation on exchange patterns between older parents and their adult children in a comparative analysis. We distinguish between different kinds and flows of assistance (financial, time, given and received), and consider the possible impacts of state contexts on the links between solidarity and exclusion. Multilevel models indicate that materially deprived respondents indeed give less but need more help from their adult children and thus lose their normal role as providers. Moreover, social policies matter: In countries with higher social inequality and more poverty fewer transfers of time and money are given and received between generations. Poor families in countries with high social exclusion are thus especially vulnerable.

Childlessness in later life is a topic that has been attracting increased levels of attention from researchers and policy makers. Yet a number of misconceptions about childlessness among the elderly remain, such as the claim that elderly childless people are mainly on the receiving end of intergenerational exchanges, or that they are a homogeneous group. Contrary to these assumptions, we find that elderly childless people give as well as receive, and that parental status is a continuum, ranging from full childlessness across several intermediary conditions to full current natural parenthood. In a study of the elderly population across 11 European countries, we show that non-parents make significant contributions to their social networks of family and friends through financial and time transfers, and that the latter in particular differ little from those of natural parents. The same applies to their participation in charitable and voluntary work. Different parental statuses are significantly associated with the various dimensions of giving and receiving. Social parents (i.e., people who have no natural children, but who have adopted, foster, or stepchildren) are shown to be much more similar to natural parents than to non-parents. Family recomposition thus does not seem to inhibit intergenerational exchanges, as long as social parents have sufficient contact with their non-natural social children. On the other hand, parents who have lost contact with their children – natural or otherwise – are likely to require more formal care in later life.

In this study, the predictive power of relationships with parents, peers, and romantic partners in adolescence on the marital quality in adulthood is examined. It is hypothesized that relationships in adolescence both inside and outside of the family of origin influence the development of romantic relations later in life. In addition, marital quality in early and middle adulthood is predicted from aspects of the adult life situation.

The study draws on German longitudinal data that covers more than 30 years of development. It was conducted first in the 1980ies with adolescents aged 12 to 16. In 2002 and 2012 the study was resumed, when participants were 35 and 45 years of age, respectively. The sample consists of nearly 700 participants. They reported on their relationships in adolescence as well as on their life situation and marital quality in adulthood. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted.

Results demonstrate that the quality of relationships with parents, peers, and romantic partners in adolescence contributes uniquely to the development of romantic relations later in life. For example, a conflict-ridden parent-child relation in adolescence proves to be associated with an elevated risk for conflict and dissatisfaction in the adult love relationship. However, the predictive power of adolescent variables is quite modest, being somewhat stronger for women than for men. Generally, aspects of the adult life situation (e.g. parenthood) have a greater impact on marital quality than early social experiences. Additional analyses will test if the influence of adolescent relationships decreases with increasing age of the participants.

Religious faith is often found to have a positive impact on relationships, in terms of commitment, coping and marital generosity, and to be particularly salient to older women. This study investigates whether, in a religiously homogenous yet secularising microstate, faith still matters to relationship satisfaction; what factors predict this; and whether faith influences couple agreement on various relationship aspects.

This study is based on the 2015 relationships survey by the National Centre for Family Research in Malta, based on a 33-item questionnaire administered to a random stratified sample of the population through telephone interviews. The subset of 1369 cases in this study includes all respondents in couple relationships.

Those for whom faith matters to their relationship reported significantly higher relationship satisfaction, though the effect was small (p = 0.03, r = -.05). Only three among numerous variables made a unique significant contribution to whether faith mattered - being married had the highest odds ratio (8.04, p =.03) followed by being older than 60 (2.78, p =.03) and being female (1.73, p =.03). Those for whom faith mattered had significantly higher mean levels of agreement on the demonstration of affection (z = -2.471, p = .13), children’s upbringing (z = -2.883, p =.004) and managing family finance (z = -2.990, p =.003) but did not differ in other examined areas.

This study sheds further light on age and gender differences in the salience of faith to relationships, and proposes further research on how faith affects couple agreement in key relational areas.

In Western societies, the borders of gender role related expectations have become vague, meaning that couples must negotiate, plan and personally carry out more and more aspects in their lives. These changes have made couples’ relationships and family life more diverse but also fragile. The changes have been especially precipitous in former socialist countries, like Estonia, which have witnessed dramatic and overwhelming changes in the political, economic and social environment while striving to adopt Western values. All this has also affected the family institution, e.g. since 1998 in Estonia more than half of children are born outside of marriage. In the current paper, we study how this complex situation has changed couples’ relationships and family related attitudes and how well people have adopted egalitarian values. Using qualitative methods, semi-structured interviews with married and cohabiting couples (N=13) were conducted. Our results show that the loss of traditional gender role related expectations has led to ambivalence in couples’ relationships. Although couples seemingly have embraced egalitarian values, traditional gender role related expectations are still deeply embedded. This also supports the idea of norms and counter-norms. For instance, it is considered appropriate for women to start a conversation about marriage, yet it is still believed that the marriage proposal itself should only be made by men. We conclude that family formation pathways are related to the gender role expectations, which in turn are highly ambivalent.

Despite longer life expectancy and thus an increasing extent of common time of living together, previous research has paid more attention on emotional closeness between couples in young adulthood than in old age. However, regarding the phenomenon of ageing societies, the paper focuses on elderly European partnerships and addresses the following questions: (1) How close are European couples in old age?, (2) Are there gender- and/or country-specific differences regarding emotional bonds within partnerships? and (3) Which circumstances concerning the individual, the partnership, the family and the context can explain a situation of closeness or distance? The analysis are based on the social network module as part of the 4th wave of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (2010/11) including 37,000 respondents from 16 countries. The results indicate that in general, almost 80 percent named the respective partner as an important member to discuss things that happen to them, bad or good. Besides, there are partially huge gender and country differences. While in all observed European countries, men report more often of such an emotional relationship to his partner/wife than women, the country-specific pattern is less clear or simple. Hereby, men and women especially in Austria and Hungary show the closest and particular French couples the lowest emotional closeness. Furthermore, multilevel logistic regressions provide relevant insights to understand such a situation, in general and especially for men and women.

Elderly couples have endured together the struggles, conflicts and decisions of a linked life (Elder 1987, Wiley 1988, Gottman 2000). With age they increasingly face health burdens, decrease in well-being and loss of abilities such as self-regulation (Vogel 2013, Gerstorf 2010). Couples cope with these age-related decrements by „compensation through collaboration“ (Dixon 2011, Landis 2013). This potentially creates dependence. Health strain might require couples to re-establish their dyadic “homeostasis”, roles and division of labor (Korpoolar 2013). As couples have been socialized more 'traditionally', this is highly relevant (Ferree 1990, Wilkie).

We used a parallel, convergent mixed-methods design with quantitative cross-sectional data (N=170, 76.91 years, marriage duration 46.48 years) and open-ended, qualitative interviews (N=11 couples, 1.5-2.5h) to examine couples' conflicts and roles in late life. Why do conflicts arise, how do they look and how are they resolved? How egalitarian are these couples, which role dynamics do they have and how gendered are they?

Conflicts are partly resolved functionally. However, the positivity of conflicts is mixed. It is still difficult to address conflicts. Gender makes surprisingly quantitatively no difference. Role patterns are egalitarian and beneficial for conflict dynamics, although past inequality still plays a role. Furthermore, qualitative interviews revealed retrospectively gendered dyadic life courses, but with a comparatively dyadic approach.

The question remains, what happens with conflicts and roles during Fourth Age, when couples have to adjust to further functional limitations and potential loss of autonomy?

This paper develops a multidimensional scale to measure intergenerational solidarity (IS) to assess its psychometric properties and to examine the invariance of the instrument across genders. Using the theoretical framework of Bengtson and his colleagues (Bengtson and Roberts 1991; Mangen, Bengtson, and Landry 1988), we measure five out of six conceptual dimensions of intergenerational solidarity with a new dimension that we developed that is called systematic solidarity.

By using a sample of 201 valid questionnaires, different analyses were conducted to validate the new scale. The definitive scale that was proposed to measure IS is comprised of four dimensions, namely, normative solidarity and the three affective solidarities (which relate to parents, partner and children). Finally, we provide evidence of the consistency of this scale across gender differences.

The finding that gender role beliefs have become more egalitarian in western industrialized countries over the last decades is quite uncontested. In quantitative studies, this conclusion is drawn from the percentage of “egalitarian” answers to single items or scores on unidimensional indices. Considering the complexity of gender role attitudes, for example when women’s public and private roles are evaluated differently, we propose to identify different attitudinal patterns by the application of latent class analysis. This approach also facilitates statistical testing of measurement invariance, which means that it can be verified whether the structure of the concept “gender egalitarianism” and respondents’ understanding of the items remain stable over time.

Using representative data from the German General Social Survey (ALLBUS) in 1991 (n=3049) and 2012 (n=1726), we demonstrate that at both time points, five classes can be distinguished which differ quantitatively by the extent of egalitarianism as well as qualitatively by the combination of positions towards women’s roles in the public and private sphere. Our analysis reveals that the structure of class profiles remains remarkably stable over time. While there is a strong increase in the proportion of egalitarian classes, the number of “ambivalent egalitarians” who support gender equity in paid labour while fearing negative consequences for children decreases. Further, we investigate the influence of socio-demographic covariates such as age, gender or region on class membership. We conclude with a discussion of the substantial and methodological implications of our approach.

There is an extensive literature on the domestic division of labor in social sciences. Usually, analyses are restricted to the division of household labor by applying regression models where the dependent variable is constructed as the absolute or relative amount of housework separately for men and women.

However, this paper argues that focusing only on the domestic sphere ignores the multidimensional character of interactions between couples. Frequently applied resource, gender role and time availability approaches as well as Becker’s theory on the family do not solely focus on the domestic side of the division of labor in theoretical terms. It is Becker’s main argument that marital exchange is based on the allocation of time on the household and market sector (Becker 1991, p. 32).

Further, empirical approaches ignore the genuinely dyadic nature of the division of labor. Traditional survey data does not comprise information of two agents such as husband and wife. Hence, the application of individualistic models seemed appropriate. In this contribution, we support the utilization of dyadic data for the application of theories on marital exchange We propose a classification technique drawing on finite mixture models (Schmitz 2009) as generalizations of traditional multivariate techniques making use of the statistical dependence between both actors and the complex structure of division of labor.

By using data from the German Family Panel (pairfam), the first purpose is to identify typical dyadic patterns within the interactions of heterosexual couples and further interpret these patterns against the background of the theories mentioned above.

The main aim of my presentation is to discuss the methodological assumptions of the research project „Family and parenting practices in traditional and postmodern families - reconstruction of daily routines” which I'm presently realizing.

The theoretical basis for my project has been given by David H. G. Morgan. In his view, researchers should focus not on socio-demographical characteristics of the family, but on how the family is ’being done’. Family is defined rather as a combination of practices, then a social institution. In this context one can say that family is ’being done’ by daily actions of its members. Looking for tools for research on family practices, it is valuable to refer to Jean Claude Kaufmann’s view and his definition of habit.

Using as inspiration the of Morgan’s and Kaufmmana’s theories I intend to analyse the ’obvious part’ of daily life, family routines as well as family and parenting practices in two groups of Polish families: ’traditional’ and ’postmodern’.

The main hypothesis of this project is as follows: polarisation of the family life paradigms in contemporary Poland is growing, and therefore the gap between ’traditional’ and ’postmodern’ family models is widening. With a view to verifying this research hypothesis I’d going (among others) to analyse the day-to-day routines and family and parenting practices.

In the previous decade, the family underwent some important changes. These transformations are associated with the perception of the family in terms of a diversified entity – both with regard to its structure and to the relationships within it. Consequently, we cannot but consider how the feminine figure of both woman and mother has drastically changed. Due to her own agency, a woman can thus choose whether or not to become a mother – and its accompanying appointed time and conditions. This research has been carried out by means of 80 semi-structured interviews with women aged between 40 and 50 who have reached motherhood in different ways – be they biological mothers, adoptive mothers, women who achieved pregnancy through assisted reproductive technology, women without any children. Research aims at discovering the factors which come into play in behind one’s decision. Yet, it is believed that each choice aims at balancing a woman’s personal and structural dimensions – the former being related to one’s manifold phases of life, the latter to their socio-cultural environment. This investigation has revealed a more recurring presence of ascriptive factors such as one’s experiences in the family she was raised and one’s personal way to act, which is part and parcel of one’s choosing of her partner and of one’s achieving of goals. Ascriptive factors have thus shadowed contextual factors (such as employment and financial stability), as well as the presence of a system of social services to support parenting and early childhood.

The aim of the study is to examine the attitudes and positioning concerning post-divorce fatherhood of professionals who deal with divorce in their work. In Finnish societal debate, the position of fathers in divorce has been brought up. A particular cause of concern is that fathers are rarely designated as custodial parents. It is claimed that women professionals defend the mother’s right to her child. According to critical views, the authorities’ decisions are guided by attitudes, beliefs and myths related to good mothering.

The research data complies interviews with eighteen family professionals who work with divorce, and they are social workers, psychologists, district court judges and a lawyer. The research method is qualitative attitudinal research. The generation of data has made use of statements on attitudes and the argumentative interviewing method combined with semi-structured interviews. Qualitative attitudinal research includes methods for generating and systematically analysing argumentative interview talk. The focus of the analysis is on what attitudes on post-divorce fatherhood the professionals express and how they argue for and justify their views.

The preliminary results indicate that the family professionals’ positioning on post-divorce fatherhood is based on the frames of a child’s best interest, parents’ responsibility, the importance of professionals’ life experiences and the respect for the diversity of clients.

This paper studies different forms of relationality in the everyday lives of 39 Finnish mothers who have or are breastfeeding extendedly. In sociological research the concept of relationality is linked to studies concerning intimacy, family and personal life. We understand ourselves in relationships with others but also in relation to others and to the social norms surrounding us. I argue that different relationships shape the way these mothers experience extended breastfeeding in everyday life and that at the same time their maternal identity is shaped by relations to other people.

Relationships are not just given based on one’s part in the family but changing and based on will to be in the relationship. In this paper I focus on both the “given” family and the “chosen family” of friends but also to “outsiders” such as healthcare professionals and other people mothers interact with and with whom they are in relation with. I use close reading and narrative analysis to study how mothers describe different kind of relationalities and I am interested in descriptions of positive relationality but also conflicts in relationality.

This paper is a part of my ongoing gender studies’ PhD research. My research focuses on Finnish women who have been breastfeeding over a one year and on cultural aspects they encounter.

The nature or type of care is often presented as different for men and women. Moreover, childcare is often actualized as gendered (e.g., Ciccia & Bleijenbergh, 2014). Yet there are fathers “speaking in the language of care” in the same way as is expected of mothers (Doucet, 2006) and challenging the idea of gender differences in care. The presentation explores everyday views on differences between mother’s care and father’s care as described by eight interviewed Finnish parents.

The data consist of thematic interviews of four mothers and four fathers. The parents were reached either via child health care centres or via their places of work using snowball sampling. The data were analysed thematically using inductive bottom up approach (e.g., Braun & Clark, 2006)

The findings suggest that fathers’ care is generally perceived to be more relaxed and mother’s care more meticulous. Several interviewed described mothers’ care as natural, while fathers need to learn to care.

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. http://dx.doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa

Ciccia, R., & Bleijenbergh, I. (2014). After the male breadwinner model?: Childcare services and the division of labor in European countries. Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State and Society, 21(1), 50‒79. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/sp/jxu002

Doucet, A. (2006). Do men mother? Fathering, care, and domestic responsibility. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

A little is known about the importance of peers from a father’s perspective during early years of their children. Being and becoming a father is important life change for most of the men. According to previous findings social support is one important factor associated to father’s involvement (Lamb 2010; Doherty, Kouneski and Erickson 1998).

In this particular research aim is to find out: a) what is the meaning of father to father talk when the child is approximately one and three years old? and b) from what matters do fathers consider important to share their thoughts and experiences?

This research includes my PhD research project and uses a part of the follow-up data from Finnish STEPS study (Lagström et al. 2013). This research is focused the Finnish two-parent families who were classified three family types. Fathers’ self -reported answers from the importance of peers were asked when their children were approximately one (N=1069) and three years old (N=720).

The presentation explores the results based on the same respondents with these two periods. Data will be analyzed by using SPSS 23 – program. Currently, the statistical analysis is still in a process. By using a factor- and principal component analysis, the instrument is also tested and created new variables. Based on the results, I will also discuss the changing context of fatherhood and what are current matters when their children grow.

The growing use of Telegram messenger has affected the traditional relationships of couples in Iran. Due to the lack of filtering, easy access and specific technological attraction, Telegram has turned into the destination of virtual wave of immigration for Iranian social networks users. In this research we have studied the impact of Telegram on traditional relationships of Iranian couples by doing a survey on 150 married users in Tehran including 73 men and 77 women between 25 to 40 years old beside a control group of 101 married men and women who didn’t join to Telegram. According to this research, we found the relevance between using Telegram and outbreak of tension in couples interactions (p<.05). The rate of reliability of our questionnaire was α=0.83.

Eventually, our descriptive findings indicated that from our respondents 67 percent believed that they had a more satisfaction from their marital relationship before joining to Telegram while 24 percent disagree with our hypothesis and 9 percent chose indifference option in the questionnaire. Moreover, with the analysis of other questions we found how absence of verbal interaction, competition for gaining virtual capital to have more influence on family members and others in Telegram and frequent reconstruction of virtual identities for different situations in groups besides the differences of real world and the fantasy of virtual world in Iran, addiction to permanent presence in network and finally changing the construction of power through reduction of real situations in family’s structure into avatars lead to tension in couple relationships.

The research stems against the background of accelerating pace of life. As response people are forced to use several time – related strategies. Many of these strategies are facilitated by ICT and mobile technologies in particular. Working parents in particular are prone to time-related problems, because of many schedules tied together and many activities taking place. This study analyzes the way ICTs are used in daily life of employed families. The main research questions of our study are: what kind of time-related problems families’ experience, and how families’ use technology to organize time and daily activities?

Time related problems concern different dimensions of time, thus solutions to these vary. Based on earlier research on daily life and time, we know that time-related problems relate to, for example, (a) the total number of activities; (b) having too many time consuming activities; (c) fragmentation of time; (d) lack of control of time; and (e) having too many (or lack of) time institutions. There are differences on the way to solve or govern these daily puzzles on time. The study analyses an interview data of 21 employed men and women collected in Finland in 2015. The analysis relies on thematic content analysis.

The study finds that ICT tackles various dimensions of time. ICTs can be used to save or storing time, but also family time is actively protected to avoid ‘time contamination’ caused by ICT. Importantly ICT is used to coordinate and manage family routines, with various activities that are tied together.