TY  - JOUR
T1  - Exploring the Thematic Evolution of Family Studies Over the Last Three and a Half Decades with Network Analysis
TT  - Son Otuz Beş Yıldaki Aile Çalışmalarının Tematik Evriminin Ağ Analiziyle İncelenmesi
AU  - Akgün Sakızcı, Eda
AU  - Pehlivan, Oğuzhan
AU  - Gökmen, Yunus
PY  - 2026
DA  - June
Y2  - 2026
DO  - 10.32709/akusosbil.1920650
JF  - Afyon Kocatepe Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi
JO  - AKÜSBD
PB  - Afyon Kocatepe Üniversitesi
WT  - DergiPark
SN  - 1302-1265
SP  - 542
EP  - 562
VL  - 28
IS  - 2
LA  - en
AB  - IAcademic studies on the family, which forms the core of a society, have gained significant momentum in the last 30-40 years. However, there is no specific longitudinal research focusing on the indexed scholarly segment of family-related research, rather than exploring the entire universe of family sociology or family studies in the literature. In this article, we aimed to explore the thematic evolution of family studies by examining correlative statements in family studies. To achieve our aim, first, 4,485 articles related to the concept of “family” in the Web of Science (WoS) Family Studies category between 1988 and 2023 were included in analysis, and 3,327 articles were found suitable for further analysis after data cleaning. From these studies, 16,635 standardized keywords were obtained and reduced to 5,804 unique keywords through a standardization process. Subsequently, four distinct periods (1988–2000, 2001-2010, 2011–2019, and 2020-2023) were determined based on historical and theoretical considerations, and co-word network analysis was applied to examine degree, betweenness, and eigenvector centrality measures of keywords to reveal their interrelations. The findings showed that family relationships structured around generational and role-based distinctions, such as “parents,” “adolescents,” and “children,” emerged as more prominent in the observed period. In addition, issues such as “family resilience” and “social support” are expected to gain increasing importance, while “methodological” and “macro-level” perspectives appear to decline over time within the literature. Furthermore, the research focus has shifted from “African/Black families” toward “Chinese families,” and “transnational family” issues are likely to contribute to a deeper understanding of migration and brain drain processes.
KW  - Family studies
KW  - co-word network analysis
KW  - family relationships
KW  - family resilience
KW  - social support
N2  - Toplumun çekirdeğini oluşturan aile üzerine yapılan akademik çalışmalar son 30-40 yılda önemli bir ivme kazanmıştır. Bununla birlikte, aile sosyolojisi veya aile çalışmaları literatürünün tamamını keşfetmek yerine, aileyle ilgili araştırmaların indekslenmiş akademik bölümüne odaklanan uzlamsal bir araştırma bulunmamaktadır. Bu makalede, aile çalışmalarındaki korelatif ifadeleri inceleyerek aile çalışmalarının tematik evrimini keşfetmeyi amaçladık. Amacımıza ulaşmak için öncelikle, 1988 ile 2023 yılları arasında Web of Science (WoS) Aile Çalışmaları kategorisinde "aile" kavramıyla ilgili 4.485 makale analize dahil edilmiş ve veri temizliğinden sonra 3.327 makale daha ileri analiz için uygun bulunmuştur. Bu çalışmalardan 16.635 standartlaştırılmış anahtar kelime elde edilmiş ve bir standardizasyon süreciyle 5.804 benzersiz anahtar kelimeye indirgenmiştir. Daha sonra, tarihsel ve teorik değerlendirmelere dayanarak dört farklı dönem (1988–2000, 2001-2010, 2011–2019 ve 2020-2023) belirlenmiş ve anahtar kelimelerin derece, arasındalık ve özvektör merkezilik ölçümlerini incelemek ve aralarındaki ilişkileri ortaya çıkarmak için eş kelime ağ analizi uygulanmıştır. Bulgular, “ebeveynler”, “ergenler” ve “çocuklar” gibi kuşak ve rol temelli ayrımlar etrafında yapılandırılmış aile ilişkilerinin gözlemlenen dönemde daha belirgin hale geldiğini göstermiştir. Ayrıca, “aile direnci” ve “sosyal destek” gibi konuların giderek daha fazla önem kazanması beklenirken, “metodolojik” ve “makro düzey” perspektiflerin literatürde zamanla azaldığı görülmüştür. Ayrıca, araştırma odağı “Afrikalı/Siyahi aileler”den “Çinli aileler”e doğru kaymıştır ve “uluslararası aile” sorunlarının göç ve beyin göçü süreçlerinin daha derinlemesine anlaşılmasına katkıda bulunması muhtemeldir.
CR  - Adam, B., Van Loon, J., & Beck, U. (2000). The risk society and beyond critical issues for social theory. The Risk Society and Beyond, 1-240.
CR  - Akee, R., Copeland, W., & Simeonova, E. (2024). Child mental health, family circumstance, and long-term success: the effect of household income. Journal of Human Resources, 59(S), S77-S107.
CR  - Albahari, A., Barge-Gil, A., Pérez-Canto, S., & Landoni, P. (2022). The effect of science and technology parks on tenant firms: A literature review. The Journal of Technology Transfer. https://doi.org/10. 1007/s10961-022-09949-7
CR  - Albanese, A. M., Russo, G. R., & Geller, P. A. (2019). The role of parental self‐efficacy in parent and child well‐being: A systematic review of associated outcomes. Child: Care, Health and Development, 45(3), 333-363.
CR  - Amrutha, V.N. & Geetha, S.N. (2020). A systematic review on green human resource management: Implications for social sustainability. Journal of Cleaner Production. 247, 119131.
CR  - Argoubi, M., Ammari, E., Masri, H. (2020). A scientometric analysis of Operations Research and Management Science research in Africa, Operational Research, 1–17.
CR  - Baldassar L. & Baldock C. (1999). Linking migration and family studies: Transnational migrants and the care of ageing parents. In: Agozino B, editor. Theoretical and methodological issues in migration research. Aldershot, UK, Ashgate, 57–74.
CR  - Baldassar, L., Kilkey, M., Merla, L., & Wilding, R. (2014). Transnational families. The Wiley Blackwell companion to the sociology of families, 155-175.
CR  - Barnett, O. W., Miller-Perrin, C. L., & Perrin, R. D. (2010). Family violence across the lifespan: An introduction. Sage.
CR  - Barrett, M., & McIntosh, M. (2015). The anti-social family. Verso Books.
CR  - Berardo, F. M., & Shehan, C. L. (2007). Family life and social change. Journal of Marriage and Family, 69(2), 293–308.
CR  - Bonacich, P. (2007). Some unique properties of eigenvector centrality. Social networks, 29(4), 555-564.
CR  - Boston Consulting Group, (2020), ‘Easing the COVID-19 burden on working parents’, Boston Consulting Group, May 21, 2020. Available at: https://www.bcg.com/itit/publications/2020/helping-working-parentsease-the-burden-of-covid-19.aspx
CR  - Broda, M. D., Granger, K., Chow, J., & Ross, E. (2023). Using social network analysis in applied psychological research: A tutorial. Psychological Methods, 28(4), 791.
CR  - Cares, A. C., Reckdenwald, A., & Fernandez, K. (2021). Domestic violence and abuse through a sociological lens. In the Routledge international handbook of domestic violence and abuse (pp. 40-54). Routledge.
CR  - Carrington, P. J., Scott, J., & Wasserman, S. (2005). Models and methods in social network analysis (Vol. 28). Cambridge University Press.
CR  - Choudhury, N., & Uddin, S. (2016). Time-aware link prediction to explore network effects on temporal knowledge evolution. Scientometrics,108, 745–776. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-016-2003-5
CR  - Collins, P. H. (1998). Intersections of race, class, gender, and nation: Some implications for Black family studies. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 29(1), 27-36.
CR  - Cowan, P. A. (2013). Individual and family life transitions: A proposal for a new definition. In FamilyTransitions (pp. 3-30). Routledge.
CR  - De Carvalho, M. E. (2000). Rethinking family-school relations: A critique of parental involvement in schooling. Routledge.
CR  - De, S. S., Dehuri, S., & Cho, S. B. (2020). Research contributions published on betweenness centrality algorithm: modelling to analysis in the context of social networking. International Journal of Social Network Mining, 3(1), 1-34.
CR  - Drotning, K. J., Doan, L., Sayer, L. C., Fish, J. N., & Rinderknecht, R. G. (2023). Not all homes are safe: Family violence following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of FamilyViolence, 38(2), 189-201.
CR  - Duncombe, J., & Marsden, D. (1993). Love and Intimacy: The Gender Division of Emotion andEmotion Work' A Neglected Aspect of Sociological Discussion of Heterosexual Relationships. Sociology, 27(2), 221-241.
CR  - Eurofound (2020). Living, working and COVID-19 dataset, Dublin. Available at: http://eurofound.link/covid19data.
CR  - Farrell, B., VandeVusse, A., & Ocobock, A. (2012). Family change and the state of family sociology. Current Sociology, 60(3), 283-301.
CR  - Favez, N., Widmer, E. D., Frascarolo, F., & Doan, M.-T. (2019). Mother-stepfather co-parenting in stepfamilies as predictor of child-adjustment. Family Process, 58, 446–462. doi:10.1111/famp.12360
CR  - Fomby, P., & Cherlin, A. J. (2007). Family instability and child well-being. AmericanSociologicalReview, 72(2), 181-204.
CR  - Frejka, T., Sobotka T., Hoem J.M., and Toulemon L., eds. (2008). Summary and general conclusions: Childbearing trends and policies in Europe. Demographic Research, Special Collection 19, 5–14.
CR  - Furstenberg, F. F. (2000). The sociology of adolescence and youth in the 1990s: A critical commentary. Journal of Marriage and Family, 62(4), 896-910.
CR  - Furstenberg, F. F. (2014). Fifty years of family change: From consensus to complexity. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 654(1), 12-30.
CR  - Furstenberg, F.F. (2007). Destinies of the disadvantaged: The politics of teen childbearing. New York, NY, Russell Sage Foundation.
CR  - Garmezy, N. (1991). Resiliency and vulnerability to adverse developmental outcomes associated with poverty. American Behavioral Scientist, 34, 416-430.
CR  - Giddens, A. (2005). The transformation of intimac. Stanford University Press.
CR  - Giddens, A., Duneier, M., Appelbaum, R., & Carr, B. (2009). Introduction to sociology. New York: WW Norton & Company.
CR  - Grier, E., Lunsky, Y., Sullivan, W. F., & Casson, I. (2024). Health care of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities in a time of COVID-19. Canadian Family Physician.
CR  - Gupta, M., Kumar, P., & Bhasker, B. (2019). DPRel: a meta-path based relevance measure for mining heterogeneous networks. Information Systems Frontiers, 21(5), 979-995.
CR  - Hanneman, R. A., & Riddle, M. (2005). Introduction to social network methods. Riverside: University of California.
CR  - Heuveline, P., Timberlake, J. M., & Furstenberg, F. F. (2003). Shifting childrearing to single mothers. Population and Development Review, 29(1), 47–71.
CR  - Higgins, C., Duxbury, L., & Lee, C. (1994). Impact of life-cycle stage and gender on the ability to balance work and family responsibilities. Family Relations, 144-150.
CR  - ILO (2020), ILOSTAT Database. Available at: https://ilostat.ilo.org and https://www.censis.it/economia/aibe-instant-survey-covid-19.
CR  - Jacob, G., Faber, S. C., Faber, N., Bartlett, A., Ouimet, A. J., & Williams, M. T. (2023). A systematic review of Black People coping with racism: Approaches, analysis, and empowerment. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 18(2), 392-415.
CR  - Kanter, R. M. (1989). Work and family in the United States: A critical review and agenda for research and policy. Family Business Review, 2(1), 77-114.
CR  - Kelly, J. R. (1997). Changing issues in leisure-family research—again. Journal of Leisure Research, 29(1), 132-134.
Kiernan, K. (2002). Cohabitation in Western Europe. Population Trends, 109, 1–12.
CR  - Li, X., Kawachi, I., Buxton, O. M., Haneuse, S., & Onnela, J. P. (2019). Social network analysis of group position, popularity, and sleep behaviors among US adolescents. Social Science & Medicine, 232, 417-426.
CR  - Luthar, S. & Zigler, E. (1991). Vulnerability and competence: A review of research on resilience in childhood. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 61, 6-22.
CR  - Margolin, G., Gordis, E. B., & John, R. S. (2001). Co-parenting: A link between marital conflict and parenting in two-parent families. Journal of Family Psychology, 15, 3–21. doi:10.1037/0893-3200.15.1.3
CR  - Masten, A., Best, K., & Garmezy, N. (1990). Resilience and development: Contributions from the study of children who overcome adversity. Development and Psychopathology, 2, 425-444.
CR  - Mazzucato, V. & Schans, D. (2008). Transnational families, children and the migration-development nexus. New York: Social Science Research Council;SSRC Migration and development conference paper no. 20.
CR  - Mazzucchelli, S., Bosoni, M. L., & Medina, L. (2020). The impact of COVID-19 on family relationships in Italy: Withdrawal on the nuclear family. Italian Sociological Review, 10(3S), 687-687.
CR  - McAuliffe, M. & A. Triandafyllidou (eds.), 2021. World Migration Report 2022. International Organization for Migration (IOM), Geneva.
CR  - McClintock, A. (1993). Family feuds: Gender, nationalism and the family. Feminist review, 44(1), 61-80.
CR  - Nesmith, A., & Ruhland, E. (2008). Children of incarcerated parents: Challenges and resiliency, in their own words. Children and Youth Services Review, 30, 1119–1130.
CR  - O'Laughlin, B. (2020). Myth of the African Family in the World of Development. In Women wielding the hoe (pp. 63-91). Routledge.
CR  - Parasuraman, S., Purohit, Y. S., Godshalk, V. M., & Beutell, N. J. (1996). Work and family variables, entrepreneurial career success, and psychological well-being. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 48(3), 275-300.
CR  - Pereda, N., & Díaz-Faes, D. A. (2020). Family violence against children in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic: a review of current perspectives and risk factors. Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health, 14(1), 40.
CR  - Perry‐Jenkins, M., Repetti, R. L., & Crouter, A. C. (2000). Work and family in the 1990s. Journal of Marriage and Family, 62(4), 981-998.
CR  - Phillips, S. D., Erkanli, A., Keeler, G., Costello, E. J., & Angold, A. (2006). Disentangling the risks: Parental criminal justice involvement and children’s exposure to family risks. Criminology and Public Policy, 5, 677–702.
CR  - Pirskanen, H., Jokinen, K., Kallinen, K., Minna, H. V., & Rautakorpi, S. (2015). Researching children’s multiple family relations: Social network maps and life-lines as methods. Qualitative Sociology Research, 11(1).
CR  - Rapee, R. M. (2012). Family factors in the development and management of anxiety disorders. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 15, 69-80.
CR  - Ren, Y., Li, R., Wu, K. J., & Tseng, M. L. (2023). Discovering the systematic interlinkages among the circular economy, supply chain, industry 4.0, and technology transfer: A bibliometric analysis. Cleaner and Responsible Consumption, 9, 100123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clrc.2023.100123
CR  - Roseneil, S., & Budgeon, S. (2004). Cultures of intimacy and care beyond ‘the family’: Personal life and social change in the early 21st century. Current sociology, 52(2), 135-159.
CR  - Rothbaum, F., Rosen, K., Ujiie, T., & Uchida, N. (2002). Family systems theory, attachment theory, and culture. Family process, 41(3), 328-350.
CR  - Salvato, C., Sargiacomo, M., Amore, M. D., & Minichilli, A. (2020). Natural disasters as a source of entrepreneurial opportunity: Family business resilience after an earthquake. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 14(4), 594-615.
CR  - Sharma, A., & Borah, S. B. (2020). Covid-19 and domestic violence: an indirect path to social and economic crisis. Journal of Family Violence, 1-7.
CR  - Shi, C., Kong, X., Huang, Y., Philip, S. Y., & Wu, B. (2014). HeteSim: A general framework for relevance measure in heterogeneous networks. IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering, 26(10), 2479–2492.
CR  - Singletary, B., Schmeer, K. K., Purtell, K. M., Sayers, R. C., Justice, L. M., Lin, T. J., & Jiang, H. (2022). Understanding family life during the COVID‐19 shutdown. Family Relations, 71(2), 475-493.
CR  - Slivšek, G., Vitale, K., & Lončarek, K. (2024). How Do Changes in the Family Structure and Dynamics Reflect on Health: The Socio-Ecological Model of Health in the Family. Medicina Fluminensis: Medicina Fluminensis, 60(1), 62-77.
CR  - Small, M. L., & Newman, K. (2001). Urban poverty after the truly disadvantaged: The rediscovery of the family, the neighborhood, and culture. Annual Review of Sociology, 27(1), 23-45.
CR  - Sun, Y., Han, J., Yan, X., Yu, P. S., & Wu, T. (2011). Pathsim: Meta path-based top-k similarity search in heterogeneous information networks. Proceedings of the VLDB Endowment, 4(11), 992-1003.
CR  - Sweeney, M. M. (2002). Two decades of family change: The shifting economic foundations of marriage. American Sociological Review, 67(1), 132-147.
CR  - Varela, E. G., McVay, M. A., Shelnutt, K. P., & Mobley, A. R. (2023). The determinants of food insecurity among Hispanic/Latinx households with young children: a narrative review. Advances in Nutrition, 14(1), 190-210.
CR  - Wakefield, S., & Garcia-Hallett, J. (2017). Incarceration effects on families. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice.
CR  - Winant, H. (2000). Race and race theory. Annual review of Sociology, 26(1), 169-185.
CR  - Xie, Y. (2013). Gender and family in contemporary China. Population studies center research report, 13, 808.
CR  - Xu, J., Bu, Y., Ding, Y., Yang, S., Zhang, H., Yu, C., & Sun, L. (2018). Understanding the formation of interdisciplinary research from the perspective of keyword evolution: A case study on joint attention. Scientometrics,117, 973–995. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-018-2897-1
UR  - https://doi.org/10.32709/akusosbil.1920650
L1  - https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/5867205
ER  -