CHANGES IN THE STRUCTURE OF THE MACEDONIAN FAMILY (RESEARCH ON YOUNG PEOPLE'S PERCEPTIONS OF THEIR FAMILY OF ORIGIN).

Although the family as a community in which people are grouped for joint life has existed for a long time, in the last few decades it has undergone numerous changes regarding the structure. Globally, changes have been felt for a long time because of industrialization, urbanization, and increased participation of women in the labor market. Families tend to modernize, reorganize, and shrink. After the independence of the Republic of North Macedonia (1991), such changes have become more expressly recorded in the Macedonian society as well. Macedonian families increasingly migrate from villages to cities, fewer children are born, and women are educated and employed. Hence, slowly but surely, the dominant model of extended traditional families is being abandoned in favor of egalitarian nuclear families. The family tends to shrink and become estranged. This paper aims to confirm this claim, thereby taking into consideration young people's perceptions of their family of origin. To that end, the data of two research studies from 2014 and 2022 were compared, in which young people aged 18-22 answer identical questions about the family they come from. In addition, this paper takes into consideration the available statistical indicators of the number and size of households, as well as other research on similar topics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]