The study investigated children's conceptions of family. Participants were 120 boys and girls aged 5-12, from two Brazilian regions (Northeast and Southeast), two urban contexts (capitals and inland cities), and from upper middle and lower socioeconomic strata. Children were interviewed individually according to a semi-structured interview syllabus. The results showed that children's conceptions of who belongs to the family do not reflect cohabitation, but, possibly, the degree of companionship with other relatives (grandparents, uncles and aunts, cousins); generation was a stronger differential than gender for the definition of father's, mother's, siblings', grandfathers' and grandmothers' profiles; family was pictured as a basic need, locus of identity and belongness, but children find it difficult to define the concept. Methodological questions are discussed and directions for future research are pointed out.
conceptions on family; children's conceptions; interviews with children
