Young people in post-socialist countries are confronted with risks that were unknown to the generation of their parents. The majority of changes occurred within a relatively short period of time, so the references that once ensured more or less reliable and predictable transitions to adulthood have become uncertain and obscured. Individualized life courses force people to see themselves as the centre of their life course plans and to reflexively construct their biographies. This influences partnership relations as well as decisions about the setting up of a family and having children. These are probably the main reasons for the radical changes in the attitude towards privacy and family life in Slovenia that were identified in our surveys. The family became, along with friendship, the most important value for young people. Other significant conclusions drawn from our empirical research so far are as follows: There has been a shift from the model of ethical and educational family to the model of emotional and supportive family in Slovenia. The parents' role in the life of young people has been increasing, particularly the significance of the mother on both the instrumental and emotional levels. The attitude towards family life in Slovenia is obviously expressly ambivalent. Young people, on the one hand, delay the setting up of their own families. On the other hand, our surveys indicate that individuals, including young people, attach great significance to private family life.