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Eastern Europe has been recognized as a region that has experienced major socio-political and economic changes in the last decades. The impact of these transitions on families and their functioning has also been significant. Although understanding of families in different cultures in the last years has considerably increased, little has been written on Eastern European families. This book fills the void in literature and provides a timely and comprehensive analysis of family issues in Eastern Europe. It brings together scholars from fourteen Eastern European countries. The authors explain family processes in that particular country focusing on the historic, social and economic contexts and the impact they have on families. The scholars also provide demographic information about families and discuss cultural traditions, marital and gender roles, parenting processes, family policy and programs within the society, and the state of research on family issues. The first chapter provides both an overview of family changes in Eastern Europe and an introduction to the subsequent chapters.

Romania is located in the southeastern part of Europe and has a population of 21.68 million, with 52% residing in urban areas. Ninety percent of the people identify themselves as Romanian, 7% Hungarian, and 3% belong to other ethnic groups (Census, 2002; Government White Book, 2001). In 100 AD., the Roman Empire conquered the local population, the Geto-Dacians, and established a province covering a large part of the current Romanian territory. Following hundreds of years of foreign influence and organization into smaller principates, present-day Romania took shape in two stages, through the union of Moldavia and Wallachia Provinces in 1859, and with the annexation of Transylvania in 1918. Following World War II, Romania fell under Soviet influence and a communist regime was established.

The increased number of Eastern European immigrants provides many opportunities to work with these immigrants and issues related to immigration. The purpose of this article is to examine Eastern European immigrants' adaptation patterns and provide recommendations for family therapy working with the group.

Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 120 Eastern European immigrants. Data analysis was conducted using constant comparisons.

Common immigration experiences illustrating the need for services have been identified, along with barriers that might prevent the use of social services. The results indicate similarities and differences among the different groups regarding their immigration experience and adaptation to the host society.

Recommendations for overcoming the service‐use barriers and conducting family therapy with these immigrants are provided.

In order to develop our understanding of the diversity of family processes, social scientists require research on a wide range of national settings and ethnic groups. However, systematic scholarship regarding families in Eastern European countries has been lacking, due primarily to dramatic changes in their socio-political systems. This has impeded the elaboration of cross-cultural comparisons essential to a more complete family social sciences.

Among the social changes that cause distress today, the most important are those involving partnerships, relations, family life, and parenthood. In contemporary society, it is difficult to speak of the family within a traditional framework. Like elsewhere in Europe, people in Slovenia are confronted with new challenges and risks. They are living in a country that appears to be relatively successful and stable, at least within the East European context. Furthermore, Slovenia offers an individualized social and cultural climate that has been gaining ground, and providing new options. However, there are risks involved. It is no longer possible to lean on past sources of security and reliance (e.g. values, systems of social security). Young people and their parents are compelled to make choices not only earlier, but also from a better informed position. This means that individuals are forced to shift responsibility for their own lives, almost from the period of childhood.

Latvia is situated on the Eastern Coast of the Baltic Sea – on the shipping route between North-West Europe and Russia. Because of its location, this territory has been conquered and re-divided by crusaders from Germany, Poland, Sweden, and Russia. As a result of repeated wars, Latvians were enslaved for seven centuries and partly mixed with warrior populations. Only after World War I in 1918 was the independent state of Latvia established. Its peaceful development was interrupted by the beginning of World War II. On the basis of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact between Stalin and Hitler, Latvia was forcibly annexed by the Soviet Union. The country suffered enormous population losses. During the first year of Soviet rule, the subsequent years of Nazi occupation, military pursuits, people seeking refuge in the West (around 200,000), and the Stalinist repressions and deportations to Siberia, Latvia’s net loss in population amounted to 30% of the prewar population. It is doubtful whether any other nation, except for the Jews, ever suffered such enormous population losses as a consequence of World War II. Only a third of them returned to Latvia after 10–15 years’ exile in Siberia.

Lithuania has had a long and tumultuous history. Balts, an Indo-European ethnic group, was the first civilization to live in this territory, dating back to the 10th-3rd centuries BC. The first written mention of Lithuania appeared in the German historical documents “Annals Quedlinburgenses” in 1009. In 1236, Mindaugas became the first Grand Duke of a region encompassing Lithuania, Kaliningrad and part of Poland. Mindaugas converted to Christianity and was crowned king of Lithuania in 1252. In 1323, the capital city of Vilnius was mentioned for the first time. For the first 200 years of its existence, Lithuania was under attack from both the Teutonic and the Livonian Orders. Despite this, by the end of 14th century, it managed to become one of the most powerful states in Eastern Europe. Grand Duke Vytautas the Great, who ruled from 1392 to 1430, extended the great empire from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea. At the Union of Lublin in 1569, the Polish-Lithuanian kingdom was merged into a Commonwealth headed by a monarch. It was weakened by the wars against Russia, the Ukraine, and Sweden during the 16th–18th centuries. The end of the 18th century was marked by three partitions of the Commonwealth. In 1795, after the Third Partition, Lithuania lost not only tangible traits of statehood, but also its name. As a result, it became part of the Russian Empire.