Child Development and Family Functioning within the Romanian Context

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. While Romania was primarily an agrarian society with a traditional social structure at the beginning of the 20th century, the communist development program implemented between the 1950s and the 1970s emphasized urbanization and industrial modernization (Zamfir, 2001; Zamfir et al., 2001). Communism had a negative effect on the state economic infrastructure resulting in an underdeveloped and inefficient economy. An orientation towards self-sufficiency, absolute monopoly over the internal market, rigid and technologically backward