The influence of family and social context on the formation of the scientific career start as a problem of professional groups reproduction in the field of science and technology is considered. The analysis is based on a socio-constructivist methodological perspective in career research. Based on the data of narrative-structured biographical interviews with researchers of scientific institutions of natural science disciplines, the models of mutual influence of the social context and the family during the formation of an early scientific career in the 1970s–1980s, 1980s–1990s and 1990s–2000s are compared. Conclusions are drawn about their evolution from a certain consistency and independence to an increase in the importance of family support in crisis conditions, its reconstructive function in relation to the status of science and scientific activity.