Abstract :
[en] Social media offer new opportunities for the maintenance of family relationships across distances. Before the digital revolution, physical separation meant a reduction of intergenerational contact on leaving the parental home. Today, long-distance families engage in different practices and perform certain family rituals in the social media environment using different modes of social media (Abel et al., 2021).
Family rituals are specific to families and have their own symbolic meaning and emotional significance (Fiese, 2006). Rituals represent recurring, emotional commitments that give those involved a sense of belonging (Fiese et al., 2002) and are passed on from one generation to the next. Family rituals may include shared meals, weekend activities, or family celebrations and play an important role in maintaining intergenerational solidarity (Bengtson & Roberts, 1991). The perception of rituals, in turn, is influenced by the internalization of family-related values (Albert & Ferring, 2018).
With the present study, we investigate if and to what extent family rituals are maintained virtually after young adults leave the parental home, taking into consideration the role of gender of parents and distance from the family home.
Participants were 219 persons (68.5% female), most living in Germany (84.5%), aged between 18 and 69 (M = 29.04, SD = 10.57) who completed an anonymous, online questionnaire capturing family rituals before and after leaving home and mode and frequency of communication between family members. The results show that family rituals are adapted to the virtual world. More differentiated results will be presented, and implications for future research discussed.
