Everyday Family Life: Dimensions, Approaches, and Current Challenges

Abstract

The aim of this systematic literature review was to identify, categorize, and evaluate the empirical research that has been conducted on everyday family life. Fifty-three empirically based articles focusing on everyday family life were included in the analysis, which focused on the conceptual, empirical, and theoretical content. According to our review, everyday family life comprises three dimensions: emotions, actions, and temporality. It is a continuously constructed process in which family members transmit emotions, engage in activities, and schedule timetables in the course of interactions with each other and with the wider social context. Three empirical or theoretical approaches were identified: the emotion transmission approach, the cultural activity approach, and the constructionist approach, all of which adopt research methods and concepts sensitive to daily fluctuations.