The family is a system in constant evolution, yet over time it tends to preserve its identity and selected features. By using the concept of "family life cycle", we can succeed in representing this complexity: that concept helps us understand needs, difficulties, demands and peculiarities of a family in a given stage of its development. This volume offers an introductory overview of the main concepts governing this system and its relationships, and traces the most significant changes which families have undergone in recent decades. Special emphasis is placed on the life cycle of separated and re-constituted families, with whom social workers have to deal at different levels and in different assistance/control contexts: legal, counselling, mediation, psychotherapy.

Marisa Malagoli Togliatti teaches Psychodynamics of Development and Family Relationships in the Faculty of Psychology at the University of Rome.

Anna Lubrano Lavadera is a psychologist currently engaged in specialist training at the University of Romes School for Clinical Psychology.