Characteristics of family relations of women entrepreneurs in small family business

<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Context and relevance. </strong>Women entrepreneurs contribute significantly to the economic development of the country. In Russian Federation, 40,2% of the total number of small business entities are managed by women. Research evidence that psychological characteristics of family relationships and business efficiency are interconnected. Women entrepreneurs are forced to balance between family roles (spouse, mother) and the role of business manager, which often leads to conflicts. <br><strong>Objective.</strong> To study the characteristics of family relations of women entrepreneurs in the field of small family business. <br><strong>Hypotheses. </strong>1. Women entrepreneurs have higher rates of family system adaptation in comparison to male entrepreneurs. 2. Women entrepreneurs have a gap between real and ideal family system. 3. The ideal family system compared to the real one in the women entrepreneurs’ perceptions implies a lower adaptability scale.<br><strong>Methods and materials. </strong>The study involved 129 Russian entrepreneurs (51,2% men, 48,8% women). Russian-language version of Olson’s Family Adaptability and Cohesion Scale III Questionnaire (FACES–3) was used for data collection. Authors also used brief demographic questionnaire to study the formal characteristics of respondents, their families and businesses. Statistical processing was performed using The Mann–Whitney <em>U</em>-test, the Wilcoxon signed-rank test, Cohen's <em>d.</em> <br><strong>Results. </strong>Women entrepreneurs have higher scores of adaptability in family relationships than men entrepreneurs. The discrepancy between the real and ideal family system was revealed for women and men sample. Only the cohesion indicators have a significant difference and sufficient force of effect. <br><strong>Conclusion</strong>. Families of women entrepreneurs tend to be more chaotic, with roles unbalanced. The ideal family system of entrepreneurs implies a rise in cohesion that correspond to entrepreneurs’ desire of greater emotional bond between family members.</p>