Family and Habitat: Socio-Demographic Dynamics, Values and Forms of Accommodation Ownership

Abstract

This article reports on some of the results of the doctoral dissertation that was based on the research Quality of Life in the peripheries: Habitat and Family Life in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, part of a project funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia and carried out between January 1997 and June 2000. The main objective of this study was to relate the socio-demographic dynamics and the appropriation of housing. Taking into account the demographic changes in Portugal in the last decades, the degree of satisfaction and aspirations of the respondents with regard to housing and habitat were analyzed, differentiating them according to the age group in which they are located. residence (Lisbon, Metropolitan Area north of Tejo and Metropolitan Area South of Tejo), the ownership / absence of ownership of the accommodation and the type of family in which they are inserted. On the other hand, and in an attempt to answer some of the theses that point to the "death of the family", we realize the importance that this institution seems to have, at least for the respondents. To that end, we tried to gauge where and to whom the various types of family will seek different aids, who they may rely on and how, and the values ​​they try to instill in the new generations.