生命周期视角下的中国家庭转变研究

A Study on Chinese Family Transition from the Perspective of Family Life Course

家庭转变是一个动态、系统、复杂的过程。学界既有研究主要从家庭结构、功能和关系等要素出发研究家庭转变,缺乏生命周期视角的探讨。以家庭生命周期的发展轨迹为线索,系统检视新中国成立尤其是改革开放以来的家庭转变,可以发现,近几十年中国的家庭转变具有“一推迟,二压缩,二提前,一延长”的特点:家庭形成期推迟,扩展与稳定期压缩,收缩与空巢期提前,解体期极大延展,各生命周期的时长由传统家庭的“正态分布”转变为现代家庭的“后倾分布”模式,过程更为减省。这些变化与家庭结构转型、功能转向、关系转轨互为因果、彼此支撑,构成一幅极其复杂的家庭转变画面,使得当下中国家庭存在传统与现代、后现代特征共存的局面,在主线清晰的前提下,展现出多样化的特征。新时代的社会治理须在小家庭上大做文章、做大文章。

On the basis of revising and developing the theory of family life course, and using multiple census data and other sources of data, this paper systematically analyzes the trend and characteristics of Chinese family transition since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, especially since the initiation of reform and opening up. It proposes that family transition is a dynamic, systematic and complex process. Analytic results show that Chinese family transition has been characterized by the following features: the shape of family life course has changed from the traditional “normal distribution” to the current “backward distribution” due to the facts that the period of family formation has been largely delayed, the stages of expansion and stability have been substantially compressed, while the stages of contraction and empty nest has advanced, and the stage of family dissolution prolonged. The socioeconomic consequences of family transition present new demands and challenges to public policy, and social governance in the new era should take into account the fact of profound family changes in a comprehensive manner.