Family Cohesion During and After the Communist Regime in Slovakia: A Qualitative Study

This qualitative study examined the experience and perceptions of individuals’ immediate environment while growing up during and after the communist regime in Slovakia. Purposeful sampling was used to select 12 participants to fit the intention of this qualitative inquiry. The interviews were transcribed and inductive analysis was used to identify the similarities and differences between individuals growing up during and after the communist regime. Four categories identified through the data analysis were: 1) Notable Differences, which included three themes: Changes in Immediate Living Environment, Changes in Values, and Changes in Societal Hierarchical Order; 2) Changes in Family Cohesion, which included two themes: Immediate Family and Extended Family; 3) Impact of Society on Individual, which included three themes: The Role of the Communist Regime, The Role of Democracy, and Differences between Pre-and-Post Communist Societies; and 4) Looking Back, Looking Ahead, which included one theme: Final Message. Implications for future research and practice along with the research limitations are discussed.