Abstract

Objective:

To show the main conceptions of the parents about the family, in a city of the northeastern of the Mexican Republic.

Methods:

Study with dominant mixed approach, where the qualitative has a higher prevalence, carried out from the mediational perspective of Psychology, with 1000 parents of the city of San Luis Potosí. The data were coded and grouped by similarity, which gave rise to thematic categories.

Results:

There were found different axes of rationality with that parents conceive the family, the social function of it, problems being experienced and easy or difficult aspects of parenting, which were related to the biographic data of the groups of families.

Conclusions:

There is no homogeneous conception about what should be a family, likewise there were found differences between the thought of young families and the thought of families in the middle and late adulthood.

Keywords:
Family; Parenting; Parents

Resumo

Objetivo:

Apresentar as principais concepções de pais sobre a família em uma cidade no nordeste da República Mexicana.

Métodos:

Estudo de abordagem mista dominante, onde o método qualitativo é mais prevalente, realizado a partir da Perspectiva Mediadora da Psicologia, com mil pais, na cidade de San Luis Potosi. Os dados foram codificados e agrupados por similaridade, o que deu origem a categorias temáticas.

Resultados:

Foram encontrados diferentes eixos de racionalidade com os quais os pais concebem a família, sua função social, problemáticas que são experimentadas e aspectos fáceis ou difíceis da criança, que têm sido associadas com os dados biográficos de grupos de famílias encontrados.

Conclusões:

Não há uma concepção homogênea do que deveria ser uma família, também existem diferenças entre o pensamento de famílias jovens e de famílias na idade adulta média e tardia.

Palavras-chave:
Família; Poder Familiar; Pais

Resumen

Objetivo:

Mostrar las principales concepciones de los padres sobre la familia, en una ciudad del noreste de la República Mexicana.

Métodos:

Estudio mixto de enfoque dominante, donde el cualitativo tiene mayor prevalencia, llevado a cabo a partir de la perspectiva Mediacional de la Psicología, con 1000 padres de familia de la ciudad de San Luis Potosí. Los datos fueron codificados y agrupados por similitud, lo que dio origen a categorías temáticas.

Resultados:

Se encontraron distintos ejes de racionalidad con que los padres conciben la familia, su función social, problemáticas que se experimentan y aspectos fáciles o difíciles de la crianza, los cuales se han relacionado con los datos biográficos de los grupos de familias.

Conclusiones:

No existe una homogénea concepción sobre lo que debería ser una familia, asimismo, se encuentran diferencias entre el pensamiento de las familias jóvenes y el pensamiento de las familias en la adultez media y tardía.

Palabras clave:
Familia; Responsabilidad Parental; Padres

INTRODUCTION

Society has undergone several changes in recent years; especially the family and its conceptions underwent profound alterations in the last 40 years, representing the most profound modifications of the last 20 centuries;¹1 Sánchez CV. La familia: concepto, cambios y nuevos modelos. Rev REDIF [Internet]. 2008; [cited 2017 Jan 25]; 1:15-22. Available from: http://fiuc.org/archivos/redif_01.pdf
http://fiuc.org/archivos/redif_01.pdf... to know this transformation, research is necessary in order to investigate the concept that families have about themselves today.

To talk about family is necessary as, for many, it constitutes the basis of society, the preservation of culture and the survival of the human species; the family plays a crucial role in the development of children.²2 Silva AM. La familia como contexto de desarrollo infantil: dimensiones de análisis relevantes para la intervención educativa y social. Portularia [Internet]. 2005; [cited 2017 Jan 31]; 5(2):147-63. Available from: http://rabida.uhu.es/dspace/bitstream/handle/10272/505/b1518923.pdf?sequence=1 ISSN 1578-0236.
http://rabida.uhu.es/dspace/bitstream/ha... However, the changes suffered by the family are commonly a result not of the internal revolutions of the family itself, but of the cultural behaviors of those who attend to the needs arising from the economic, political and social movements of our time.

It is important to know that the traditional family nucleus has become just one of several existing family modalities, since there is now a large plurality of these,³3 Sallés C, Ger S. Las competencias parentales en la familia contemporánea: descripción, promoción y evaluación. Educ Soc [Internet]. 2011; [cited 2017 Feb]; 49:25-47. Available from: http://www.raco.cat/index.php/EducacioSocial/article/viewFile/250177/369142
http://www.raco.cat/index.php/EducacioSo... including one-parent family, extended family, reconstituted family and other families. However, despite the existence of different modalities, they all maintain one of the most important roles of the family, such as the socialization of individuals, in the understanding that parents serve as the main agent of socialization for children.⁴4 López-Rubio S, Fernández-Parra A, Vives-Montero MC, Rodríguez-García O. Prácticas de crianza y problemas de conducta en niños en educación infantil dentro de un marco intercultural. Anal Psicol [Internet]. 2012; [cited 2017 Feb 8]; 28(1):55-65. Available from: http://revistas.um.es/analesps/article/view/140522/126612
http://revistas.um.es/analesps/article/v... ^,55 Ibabe I. Predictores familiares de la violencia filio-parental: el papel de la disciplina familiar. Anal Psicol [Internet]. 2015 May; [cited 2017 Feb 8]; 31(2):615-25. Available from: http://scielo.isciii.es/pdf/ap/v31n2/psicologia_evolutiva10.pdf. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.6018/analesps.31.2.174701
http://scielo.isciii.es/pdf/ap/v31n2/psi... Thus, socialization can be considered a cultural process through which children internalize and obtain habits and values consistent with their culture through education and imitation.⁶6 Contrí GB, Descals AM, Alonso-Geta PMP, Leonhardt PC. Los adolescentes como consumidores: la familia como agente de socialización. Estud Consumo [Internet]. 2001; [cited 2017 Jan 17]; 58:35-46. Available from: http://www.uv.es/~alaitz/Docs/Consumidor_adolescente_13x18.pdf
http://www.uv.es/~alaitz/Docs/Consumidor...

On the other hand, there are few studies that address the concept that families have about themselves. Therefore, it becomes necessary to investigate those axes of rationality with which this social institution is identified and described. Thus, the objective of the present study is to show the main conceptions of the parents about the family, in a city in the northeast of the Mexican Republic.

Literature Review

The family is a form of natural organization in the animal kingdom, although with certain differences between species. However, different changes and flexibilities have emerged over time, making today's families diverse and heterogeneous.⁷7 Rodrigo MJ, Palacios J. Familia y desarrollo humano. Madrid: Alianza Editorial; 1998.

Traditionally, the family consisted of a nuclear group composed of a man and a woman united in marriage, in addition to the children generated in this nucleus, living in the same space. As a result of social, historical, and political changes, this definition has been transformed. For purposes of analysis herein, the following conception will be taken into consideration in which the family is understood as:

Therefore, it can be said that the criteria that best define the concept of family are intangible, relate to objectives, motivations, feelings, commitment, communication and intimacy, which will facilitate and promote the development of adults and children involved.

There are studies in several countries that reaffirm the importance of the family, where the author concludes that the family is the most relevant cultural theme in contemporary societies, regardless of type.^8:158 Carrasco FP. Tipos de familia y bienestar de niños y adultos. El debate cultural del siglo XXI en 13 países democráticos. Ciudad de México: Consejo Editorial H. Cámara de Diputados; 2013. In addition, he acknowledges that this tendency occurs in any kind of political system, in societies with different types of growth and with different historical traditions. However, it also recognizes the complementarity of the family with other actors - such as corporations, organized civil society and government - for a society to function and develop properly.

The family is a human group in which a whole set of relationships, experiences and personal interactions of difficult quantification converge.^9:19 Luengo JJ, Luzón Trujillo A. El proceso de transformación de la familia tradicional y sus implicaciones educativas. Invest Esc. 2001;44:55-68. These authors emphasize the modification of family morphology, since there is now a more permissive and tolerant father-child relationship, which was largely given by the new rhythms of life that make up the coexistence of the postmodern family.^9:19 Luengo JJ, Luzón Trujillo A. El proceso de transformación de la familia tradicional y sus implicaciones educativas. Invest Esc. 2001;44:55-68.

Since the establishment of postmodernity, the information society and family diversity have made the task of being a father more complex, so that all families need support to carry out their socializing and child labor ideally.¹⁰10 Peña M, Máiquez ML, Rodrigo MJ. Efectos de la inclusión de contenidos de desarrollo personal en un programa de educación parental para familias en riesgo psicosocial. Anal Psicol [Internet]. 2014 Jan; [cited 2017 Jan 30]; 30(1):201-10. Available from: http://www.redalyc.org/pdf/167/16729452021.pdf. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.6018/analesps.30.1.152331
http://www.redalyc.org/pdf/167/167294520...

It is necessary to emphasize that society and the family are dialectic agents that influence - and modify - mutually, since the family adapts to a microenvironment of society and society has its rationale due to the existence of the family. Therefore, these agents cannot be separated, they exist, they converge and are related.

By understanding notions and conceptions as units of knowledge, it is important to remember that many of our ideas are governed by sensations, perceptions, and by our own experience, which will be constructed when required by the environment.¹¹11 Carretero M, Moneo MR. Ideas previas, cambio conceptual y razonamiento. En: Carretero M, Asensio M, coord. Psicología del pensamiento. Teoría y prácticas. Madrid: Alianza Editorial; 2008. p. 59-81. Thus, conceptions can be understood as organized theories taking into account the different fields of knowledge, that is, epistemological theories of specific domain.^12:24512 Pozo JI, Schuer N, Perez Echeverria MP, Mateos M, Martín E, De la Cruz M. Nuevas formas de pensar la enseñanza y el aprendizaje. Las concepciones de profesores y alumnos. Barcelona: Graó; 2006. These conceptions have strong implicit components, that is, they are not easily accessible to consciousness. This assumes that subjects may believe that they respond to certain questions in a manner consistent with their ideas and are not aware that their actions are different.

Given the implicit nature of these representations, they project special problems when investigating them. In this work, we try to construct a process that approximates the attributed manifestations that are surroundings of what is considered a family, since these conceptions are constructed daily through the experience. The difference of what is considered "notions", which may be linked to processes of cultural transmission and not always mediated by experience. This implies understanding that the difference between notions and conceptions is strictly qualitative, obeying the basis and the structure of the construction of each one of them.

METHODS

The study entitled "Notions and conceptions about parenting and family: a qualitative approach" was submitted to the approval of the ethics and research committee of the Research and Post-Graduate Institute of the institution belonging to the Public University, with approval record. Those that were considered in this institute were: relevance of the problem; contribution to research; delimitation and clarity of the object of study; management of information on the state of knowledge in the field; congruence of theory and research objectives; methodological consistency; as well as the follow-up of the procedures to guarantee ethical-legal aspects in the research with human subjects.

A mixed exploratory and descriptive study was developed under the dominant approach model, where the qualitative method presented a higher prevalence.¹³13 Sampieri RH, Collado CF, Lucio PB. Metodología de la Investigación. Ciudad de México: Mc Graw Hill; 2010. The Mediator Psychology model was used, where parental cognition is considered a factor that mediates the situation and the behavior manifested.⁷7 Rodrigo MJ, Palacios J. Familia y desarrollo humano. Madrid: Alianza Editorial; 1998.

For this investigation, it was used as a population families from the city of San Luis Potosí, located in the northeast of the Mexican Republic. The instrument was applied to a sample of one thousand families belonging to the same city and conurbation are located in 118 colonies with different socioeconomic, cultural and educational levels, where they were selected.

The sample consisted of 77% of mothers, 19% of fathers and 4% of fathers and mothers. Most mothers are between the ages of 21 and 40, while a large percentage of fathers are between the ages of 41 and 65. In terms of schooling, most of them have higher education. Mostly mothers are dedicated to the home, while most fathers are professionals or have independent jobs. The nuclear family model is predominant in the sample.

Instrument: A structured interview was used with six generative questions that led to the exploration of parents' thinking about Family Conception, the Importance of Family Formation, the Characteristics of a Good Father, the Child's Easy and Difficult Aspects, the Common Problems Shared by Families and their Mechanisms of Resolution, and, finally, the Difficulties Traversing the Current Families. This interview was conducted by 60 students of the Psychology Course of the Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, trained to use the instrument and obtain information.

Once the required information was collected, it was downloaded to the Microsoft Excel statistical software, from which the data was encoded, that is, labeled and grouped according to the elements that were shared to identify meaningful data. A categorization of the data was carried out later on, as well as the definition of each category; finally, the categorical weight of each of the components was obtained.¹⁴14 Coffey A, Atkinson P. Encontrar el sentido a los datos cualitativos: estrategias complementarias de investigación. Alicante: Universidad de Alicante; 2005.

RESULTS

Five themes on family and parenting were explored from one thousand families in the municipality of San Luis Potosí and in the conurbation zone of the same; later, the arguments were classified and tagged and the categorization was obtained, with which the analysis and the definition of the categories were carried out, being later found the categorical weight of the argument groups. On the other hand, a database was also used to analyze the most important biographical information of the participating families with which the groups of arguments were related.

The topics covered and the categories found are presented below in general, and later, in a specific way:

1. About Family Conception

As for the concept that families have about themselves, the arguments given by families allowed us to construct four categories:

The most relevant biographical data related to the family conception are related to parents' schooling, family sociocultural level and the age of the children:

As for parents' schooling, both parents and mothers with higher education tend to construct, for the most part, a more complete and elaborate conception of the family - the first category - while mothers with lower education (pre-school, primary and secondary) usually conceive the family as an ideal entity.

When speaking of the sociocultural level of the family, those who are at the family level 3, the middle-lows, tend to conceive the family as an ideal entity.

Among families with children over 12, there are more conceptions that relate to the family as the basic structure of society or as an ideal entity. While parents who have children under the age of 12 conceive the family as a cohabitation unit where they live together, they share expectations and seek common welfare.

2. About the Importance of Forming a Family

In this theme were found four main categories:

As significant biographical data regarding the importance of the family, it was verified that: those who mention that the importance of the family is in the satisfaction of the needs of protection and affection were, particularly, the parents who are in the beginning of the adult age, that is, whose ages range from 21 to 40 years.

3. On the Positive Characteristics of Parents

Regarding the positive characteristics of the parents, the participants refer to one, two or three elements or characteristics of the parental model that has to do with parental patterns, affective bonds and/or patterns of success, resulting in the following categories:

One of the most significant findings in this category is that over 90% of parents do not recognize success patterns and promotion styles as part of the parenting traits that good parents can be considered.

On the other hand, it is well known that in higher education, parents include characteristics of a good father in which more elements of the parental model are integrated. In addition, parents who have children under the age of 12 tend to consider bonding relations as more important, while children over the age of 20 consider most important parenting patterns.

4. About the aspects of the child that they find easy or difficult

From what is considered easy, the following categories result:

As for the difficulty of parenting, the following categories result:

The most significant results on the facilities and difficulties of parenting are: attachment bonds were considered by parents as the easiest factor of parenting, particularly by parents with children under 12; those in early adulthood range from 21 to 40 years. It is important to say that it was the patterns of parenting, namely the setting of rules and limits, the aspects considered most difficult of parenting, as well as issues that have to do with the personality and stages of development of children, obviously by parents who are in the average adult age, ranging from 41 to 65; and who have children over 12 years. Mothers and fathers who consider affection bonds as easy aspects of parenting have mainly higher education.

As for the aspects considered difficult, those who have children between 12 and 20 years of age talk about relationships, or the maintenance of affective bonds at different stages of development. While parents who have children under 12 years of age find it difficult to establish patterns of reproduction, i.e., rules and limits. Curiously, neither school control nor economics were alluded to as easy or difficult aspects of parenting. However, they were mentioned as areas to consider.

5. Most common problems of the participating families and the measures they take to solve them

This study also explored common problems in families and their mechanisms of resolution from the perspective of parents. In this section the following results were obtained:

Table 3 shows the categories obtained in relation to the most frequent family problems of the participating families.

The following results are relevant: families that mention communication, time and affection are mainly composed of parents who are in early adulthood, that is, are young families with children under 12 years of age. Those who refer to problems as rules and limits are characterized by the fact that the parents are in middle age, whose ages range from 41 to 65 years. Those who mention the absence or separation of their members, as expected, predominate in monoparental families.

On the other hand, families reporting as a problem the economy and living conditions are mainly found at the middle-low family level.

Solutions suggested by parents

Regarding the measures proposed by the parents to solve the problematic situations, the main proposals were found mainly, with a greater or lesser incidence: (a) improvement of coexistence, communication and time-sharing processes (42%); b) improve the economy through work or the modification of living conditions, or when making changes of residence, with 19%; c) seek professional support or moral authorities, (14%); d) let things change for themselves or for the time elapsed with a feeling of resignation and acceptance, with 12%; e) others mentioned that they did not find any solution (9%); f) finally mention the promotion of compliance and respect towards standards, limits and responsibilities, with 4%.

DISCUSSION

As mentioned, the family constitutes the contemporary issue of greater relevance, which is part of the continuity of societies. However, since it is a habitual element, there is the risk of simplisms in the face of such a rich and complex phenomenon, as this institution represents. This requires addressing family and parenting issues from a perspective that is much more phenomenological rather than descriptive.

From the analyzes carried out, it can be said that most of the families that collaborated in the present study tend to construct a family concept that includes, in particular, the relevance of coexistence, affection and communication, as well as the achievement of objectives and the pursuit of well-being, including education and development. This construction of the concept seems to have something to do with the parents' schooling, since, for a greater education, it includes in its description more factors that participate in its dynamics.

On the other hand, there are parents who conceive the family as an ideal entity, which implies perhaps the little reflection made on family dynamics by these notions, conceptions and beliefs around the family, so their arguments are vague, and tend to idealize and overestimate this social institution, which confirms some of the characteristics of the nature of their beliefs as everyday knowledge, that is, their implicit character and not accessible to the representational consciousness.

Another important finding has to do with the fact that more than 90 percent of parents eliminate success standards and their promotion styles by mentioning characteristics that distinguish good parents, that is, they are apparently unaware of the relevance of follow-up and of the collaboration for the decision making of the children in relation to their interests. This indicates that, in our context, it is necessary to deepen this theme and raise awareness of the promotion of family success patterns, because in all families certain characteristics of life are promoted, or worldview related to success, sometimes involuntarily, implicitly and unconsciously.

However, about half of parents are clear about their obligations to their children, meaning they are concerned about promoting norms and limits and promoting love, caring and sharing time among their members. Another 40% of the parents are very selective because they mention as characteristics of a good parent only the reproduction patterns, linkages or patterns of success alone. While only 8% of the parents mentioned the three elements of the parental model as ideal foundations for enhancing family development.

In another sense, about 20% of families consider a problem area and a difficult field for the better development of paternity, the promotion of affection bonds. Also about 35% of parents consider as a problem and area difficult to promote, the establishment of paternity standards, that is, the imposition or negotiation of norms and limits in the three specific fields of action: school, family and society.

Finally, the results showed that only 14% of the participating families recognized that one of the solutions to the problems faced by contemporary families is related to the search for professional support. However, none of these groups mention insertion into programs that facilitate the appropriation of parental skills as well as the skills with which positive parenting is promoted.¹⁵15 Rodrigo López MJ, Martín Quintana JC, Cabrera Casimiro E, Máiquez Chaves ML. Las competencias parentales en contextos de riesgo psicosocial. Psychosoc Interv [Internet]. 2009; [cited 2017 Feb 9]; 18(2):113-20. Available from: http://www.redalyc.org/pdf/1798/179814021003.pdf
http://www.redalyc.org/pdf/1798/17981402... This is an important area of ​​opportunity for the work of the health professional, in a daily theme that, however, is worth investigating and intervening.

Implications for Nursing Practice

Family culture is the fundamental basis of the educational processes that are generated in this environment, therefore this culture is reflected not only in norms, limits, attachment bonds or patterns of success promoted, but also in this same culture which is the fundamental basis for the understanding of habits linked to health promotion and prevention, so that all the habits and behaviors manifested in everyday family life are reflected in healthy life behaviors.

For the above, the knowledge on the notions and conceptions about parenting and the family can be the base line that directs programs and health plans aimed at promoting a healthy life culture, where the socio-educational formation and the psychoeducation responsible for these programs and by nursing professionals, impact on the improvement of health levels of the population and, on the other hand, provide feedback on the care processes generated at the levels of care.

CONCLUSIONS

There is no doubt that an institution such as the family traditionally depends on cultural inheritances linked to the sociocultural context to which it belongs, so as to make a marriage and the formation of a family into something linked to daily life does not seem to be an act of reflection around its conceptualization, rights and obligations that are acquired during this process. Therefore, much of the little reflection that exists depends on the cultural and educational level of its members. The factors involved with the parental model (child patterns, affective bonds, and success patterns) depend on intuitive beliefs, a large part of which is built up and reinforced by the previous family culture.

These findings may be part of the indicators that allow us to know the reasons why the family, both in its dynamics and in its structure, is changing, which also shows that the family needs more intervention from formal institutions that allow parents and children to know their own family dynamics and prepare for their dynamic of change or cultural preservation.

REFERENCES

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