Is the Conventional Family Still the Cornerstone of Society?

ike many Western countries, Belgium has undergone major demographic changes in recent decades. Although many people still regard a two-parent family with children as the typical family, this family type only represents a relatively small proportion of the current demographic landscape and therefore of our sample. In Chap. 1, we already discussed the fact that the type of family in which a person lives affects his or her level of well-being. Before going into the various dimensions of well-being in more detail in the following chapters, it is therefore a good idea to examine in greater depth the composition of families.