ANNA R ¨ ONK ¨ A University of Jyv ¨ askyl¨ a PIRJO KORVELA University of Helsinki* Everyday Family Life: Dimensions, Approaches, and Current Challenges The aim of this systematic literature review was to identify, categorize, and evaluate the empirical research that has been conducted on everyday family life. Fifty-three empirically based articles focusing on everyday family life were included in the analysis, which focused on the conceptual, empirical, and theoretical content. According to our review, everyday family life comprises three dimensions: emotions, actions, and temporality. It is a continuously constructed process in which family members transmit emotions, engage in activities, and schedule timetables in the course of interactions with each other and with the wider social context. Three empirical or theoretical approaches were identified: the emotion transmission approach, the cultural activity approach, and the constructionist approach, all of which adopt research methods and concepts sensitive to daily fluctuations. In everyday life there are many family activities that take up a considerable amount of time, energy, and attention. However, as Kerry Daly (2003) noted, most aspects of everyday family Family Research Centre, University of Jyv¨ askyl¨ a, Finland (anna.ronka@jamk.fi). * Department of Home Economics and Craft Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland. Key Words: everyday family life, conceptual analysis, literature review, research approaches. life are poorly represented in theorization about families. Why are the ordinary activities of families understudied? It is clear that approaching the family from the everyday life perspective presents a challenge to researchers because it includes a variety of activities and is familiar to all people. According to Daly (2003), many aspects of everyday family life transcend rational and logical ways of behaving and are thus difficult to capture and understand via traditional theories and methods. Regardless of the overflow and pervasiveness of everyday family life, we were concerned with identifying the relevant aspects worth studying. Recently, there has been some debate about the methods suitable for studying everyday life (e.g., Bolger, Davis, & Rafaeli, 2003; Larson & Almeida, 1999; Schneider, 2006; Tuomi-Gr¨ ohn, 2008b, 2008c). In this paper we argue that there has been a particular lack of attempts to analyze the theoretical and conceptual elements of everyday or daily life (for exceptions, see Felski, 1999–2000; Tuomi-Gr¨ ohn, 2008a). By theoretical analyses we mean elaborations concerning, for example, such questions as, Why study everyday family life? What dimensions are relevant and what theoretical approaches are useful? This article seeks to answer these questions by synthesizing current empirical findings, conceptualizations, and theoretical explanations relating to an understanding of everyday family life. We start by defining the concept of everyday life in the Journal of Family Theory & Review 1 (June 2009): 87–102 87