Attitudes toward child well-being in diverse families across Europe

Abstract

BACKGROUND European families have diversified, with more children raised in single-parent, stepparent, and same-sex parent families. Whereas child outcomes in these families are well-studied, societal attitudes toward family diversity remain underexplored. OBJECTIVE This study examines (1) perceptions of child well-being in nontraditional families compared to traditional ones, (2) their variation by family types in terms of structure and composition, and (3) sociodemographic and international differences in these attitudes across Europe. METHODS We used the “Attitudes toward family diversity” module from the European Social Survey CRONOS-2 online panel study (2022) across 11 countries. We analysed responses on perceptions of child well-being in six family types relatively to traditional families: single mother, single father, stepmother, stepfather, gay male parents, and lesbian parents. Distributions were explored by country, gender, age, education, and income quintiles. RESULTS Generally, nontraditional families were perceived as less favourable to children’s well-being than traditional ones. However, whereas over two-thirds view child well-being growing up in stepfamilies and same-sex families as comparable to child well-being in traditional families, positive attitudes vary widely, from 40% in Central and Eastern Europe to 85% in Nordic countries. Single-parent families received less approval. Women and younger individuals showed more favourable attitudes to nontraditional families. Lower socioeconomic respondents had less favourable attitudes toward same-sex families, but they are more open toward lone parenthood. CONCLUSION Attitudes toward nontraditional families’ ability to guarantee, as traditional families, children’s well-being vary across Europe. Stepfamilies and same-sex families receive higher approval than single-parent families. Two-adult forms are preferred to one-adult families. Sociodemographic factors shape these views. CONTRIBUTION This study is one of the first to systematically compare attitudes on family diversity for children’s well-being across Europe, offering new insights into the relative importance of parental gender, the number of parents, biological relatedness, and gender composition of parents.