TLDR: Tell me more about Romanian families

Hi! My name is Julie Leventhal and I am a professor at the University of North Texas in Denton, TX. In addition to visiting Romania many times over the past 12 years, I spent half of this past year living in Bucharest so that I could teach at the University of Bucharest and conduct research with Romanian families. I have been fortunate enough to work within many communities across the country and have spoken to many individuals regarding expectations in families, values that family members hold, and challenges that Romanian families face. As a result of those experiences and teaching about families at the university, I began conducting a research study focused on Romanian family life. Currently, I am coordinating interviews with Romanian young adults to learn more about the meaning of family and how family values are transmitted from one generation to the next in Romania. Unfortunately, there is very little existing research out there on how Romanian families function and we need more information in order to change some family patterns and help us create or modify family education services in Romania to better address the changing needs of Romanian families.

I am seeking young adults who are between the ages of 18 to 29, who are Romanian citizens, were raised within a Romanian family, and speak and read English fluently to participate in my study titled “Noua Familie – The New Family: Shifting Values in Young Romanian Families.” Participation in this study takes approximately 45-60 minutes of your time and includes one virtual Zoom interview; you will not receive compensation for taking part in this study. I will be conducting all interviews myself and everything you share in the interview is confidential and voluntary; no personal information will ever be used outside of communication between us and during the actual interview. The interview will include questions related to your definition of family, representations of Romanian families, values your family holds, and what families need in order to be more successful. I have already conducted 23 interviews and have had the opportunity to learn about so many diverse experiences, both positive and negative, that many Romanian families have had. I would love to learn even more because I genuinely feel like there is an opportunity for us to eventually create programs and services within the country to increase openness and cohesion within Romanian families.

For more information on what I am doing and my background with this area, check out this article in Libertatea: [https://www.libertatea.ro/stiri/lector-sua-university-north-texas-preda-dinamica-de-relatii-la-universitatea-bucuresti-familie-sanatoasa-societate-mai-buna-4089541](https://www.libertatea.ro/stiri/lector-sua-university-north-texas-preda-dinamica-de-relatii-la-universitatea-bucuresti-familie-sanatoasa-societate-mai-buna-4089541)

If you qualify for this study and are interested in participating, please contact me directly at [Julie.Leventhal@unt.edu](mailto:Julie.Leventhal@unt.edu) with your preferred dates and times that you are available for an individual interview. Also, if you have any additional questions about this study, please do not hesitate to contact me for more information!

22 comments

  3. Typical Romanian parents:

    “You have to be number 1. Anything else doesn’t matter. You have to be better than others!”

    “Take care of me when I’m old”

    “Grandchildren when?”

  4. Good luck with your research; while I don’t qualify as a respondent, being the ripe age of 33, I’d be very interested in reading your findings in due course, so please do post an update.

  5. As a research subject, this sounds pretty cool! But the results are going to be heavily biased towards middle-upper class famillies with acces to technology.

  6. Emotionally and physically abusive – 90% of them

    Homophobic, transphobic, racist and extremely bigoted – 90% of them

    Most romanian parents would rather have a dead kid than a queer kid. They would abuse and gaslight them in any way they can.

  9. Hi, Julie! While I am sadly out of your age range, I do know someone who might be able to help with recommending documentation and bibliography. I am not sure where exactly (what faculty of the University) you’ ve been teaching, but a friend of mine who is a professor of sociology at the University of Bucharest has studied and published quite a bit on the topic of Romanian family sociology. If you haven’t met her yet, maybe I can introduce you and she might give you some further insight. If you want, you can DM me for her name and some details.

  13. I unfortunately am not within the age range, however your both concept and approach to it seem very interesting, and I hope you will post a follow up on here once you garner some results and/or observations. Best of luck, hope everything goes as intended!!

  14. What I can say/add from my point of view about this post and subject is (I’m currently 35 years old):
    15-20 years ago I was annoyed and irritated by my parents in some situation or their behavior sometimes.
    Now, I’m pissed and annoyed on myself sometimes because I act or my behavior is the same as my parents had in the past in similar situations🤦‍♂️
    The fact is that I realise that I copy my parents in some ways, even if I don’t want/like to do, but I still do😅

  15. I’d be really happy to help! Im 22, born and raised in Romania and i have my CAE certificate with C2. I just have a concern and sorry if it sounds odd. This is new reddit account with a photo taked from the news article. Can you prove in any way that it’s actually you and not some random dude tht uses this pic?
    I know the uni email gives a lot of credibility,but if you have the time could you sort of assure as that you’re this teacher? Again, sorry if it sounds mean or harsh but i’ve seen lots of scammers and people with bad intentions. Thank you!

  16. There are many problems that should be addressed with families in Romania, and quite frankly, like others have noted, you will be gathering data from families that are probably the least in need of such help and are doing better than most – not just from an economical point of view, but as social position, aspirations, social models, communication etc.

    That being said, considering Western societies with their number of divorce, single and/or childless people, it seems that the Western solution to family problems is to not have families and and spend a lot of money on therapy. And those who do have children seem to raise semi neurotic for ever children who break down, cry and need a safe space whenever they are confronted with something they don’t like.

    I suppose it could be argued that it’s better to be married to pills than an abusive husband, for instance, but **neither** an abusive spouse or a partnership with pills is a strong family model.

    Do you really think that you have anything to teach that would strengthen families ? And if so, why don’t you try to apply your knowledge in your country, who seems to be in just as much need of it ?

  17. I’m 36, but have a 1 and 5 year olds. Been married for 6 years. Does it count as an “old” family? (Point being this age range is common in my social circle – and also shows how you are not selecting the tipical young romanian family)

  18. What is so special about Romanian families? How are they different from other former communist countries in Eastern Europe? Living in another country for more than a few months should be an exclusion criteria imo. Once you are exposed to and have to function in another society your mindset changes significantly. Good luck with your study.

  21. hey, I would glady help, however i havent been living in romania for around 10 years now. does this still qualify me?

  22. if you don’t know more about families, how would you know about “shifting values”? whats your point of reference?

    good luck though. have fun while in Romania. your inbox will be filled to the brim with young “politicians” trying to explain the situation.

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