Yunxia Xue

Yunxia Xue

Oct. 30, 2026

Pluralistic family, Early infant development, Institutional logic, Social transmission path, Support system reconstruction

Based on the social reality of the continuous diversification of family structure, this article discusses the social mechanism behind the differences in early infant development. The study abandons the usual path of individual attribution and starts from the perspective of institutional structure and social process, systematically analyzing how family patterns affect the development environment of infants through resource allocation, interactive scripts and institutional feedback. Through theoretical deduction and mechanism modeling, this article reveals how the nuclear family presupposition implied in the current parenting support system systematically excludes non-mainstream families and leads to structural inequality in development opportunities. The study further puts forward a theoretical framework that “care structure” replaces “legal identity” as the benchmark of policy design, and emphasizes that the system should have the ability to recognize, tolerate and empower family diversity. The article finally points to an early development policy paradigm with more structural sensitivity. Its core is to regard family diversity as the starting point of system design rather than an exception, thus providing a new path for building a fair, accessible and culturally adapted family support system in theory.

© 2026, the Authors. Published by ISCCAC

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license