The Ideal Family Model in the Eyes of Russians and a Strategy of Enhancing the Value of the Family Lifestyle

The relevance of the research work is due to the fact that the ideal family model strategy is becoming an integral component of the family and demographic policies. The need to revive the traditional family model and family values forms the conceptual basis for the government family strategy in Russia. However, in most cases, the measures taken by legislative and executive authorities to support the institution of the family do not rely on evidence-based results of empirical research. The subject of the research is the establishment of the value of family and family life in the system of life values of Russians. The purpose of the research was to identify the specific features of the attitude towards the family and the ideal family model in different population groups in Russia using the methods of multivariate statistical analysis. The results of the sample study conducted in the framework of the RFBR grant 15–02–00203 “Development of a methodology for statistical evaluation of demographic security in the context of globalization” covering 728 people constitute the information base of the paper. Data of demographic statistics and population censuses testify to the transformation of the family model and the demographic behavior of Russians. Families are differentiated by the number of children; nuclear families dominate in the family structure; with the growth of marriage birth rates in recent years, a significant proportion of children are born out of wedlock. The age of mothers giving birth tends to increase. The results of the study demonstrate the diversity of the views of Russians on a desired family model and suggest that the traditional family with clearly defined patriarchal intra-family roles does not gather majority support among Russians. The use of statistical analysis methods (factor analysis, two-stage cluster analysis, an objectives tree) made it possible to identify groups of characteristics reflecting traditional and modern family values. It is concluded that the choice of a desired family model is determined by the life strategy accepted by Russians. For a large part of Russians, the family is primarily a psychological haven. Meanwhile, in society there is a variety of opinions on the model of family life, and an effective family policy must take into account this diversity.