We sought to establish how young people's process of household formation differs across countries. Our particular focus was on departures from the parental home and returns to it. We used large micro datasets to explore the determinants of these flows, with specific attention to economic factors. We presented international evidence on the differences in living arrangements and departure rates, and reviewed the problem and the literature. We realised that home-leaving had found limited space in the economic literature until only very recently, while previous research mainly consisted of descriptive cross-sectional studies of living arrangements, with rare cross-country quantitative analyses. We therefore highlighted the areas of research that required further analysis. Since there are large differences in household structure within Europe and in comparison to the US, we posited a simple theoretical framework and estimated a dynamic model of departure from home with multiple destinations. Using several datasets (ECHP, BHPS, SOEP, NLSY) we analysed how the determinants of departure compare and whether the differences in residential decisions can be explained by looking at children's and parents' income and labour market situation. Our results suggest that, for Southern Europeans, economic circumstances are significant but their effects are small, while for the UK and the US the effects of economic variables are much larger, with potential income being a more important covariate than current income. Finally, we examined young people's return to the parental home. After presenting basic descriptive statistics showing high return rates across countries for unmarried youth, we showed that the role of economic factors is important in the UK and the US, indicating that returning to the family appears to provide a fall-back solution for young unmarried people. We found significant differences between countries, as well as between genders and between married vs. unmarried youth.

This thesis presents an account of the experiences and practices of a group of primary caregiving fathers in the UK. It fills a gap in the academic literature on fatherhood in relation to an under-researched yet apparently increasing group of men. Drawing on descriptions of their engagement in paid work, housework and childcare practices, and engagement in the public sphere, this thesis argues that the practices of primary caregiving fathers across these three areas are indicative of shifts in ideas about , and experiences of, contemporary fathering. These primary caregiving fathers are not necessarily disengaged from the labour market although economic provisioning is not central to their conception of good fatherhood. They also take on full responsibility . for childcare and its management, in contrast to previous accounts which suggested that even in 'role reversal ' situations mothers continue to take the lead. The public arena is a more difficult space to negotiate with fathers developing a range of responses to navigate female-dominated situations. Finally, it is suggested that the total social organisation of labour (TSOL) framework is helpful for providing a more integrated approach to evaluating fathers' care and work routines. These encompass paid employment, volunteering, childcare, and networking at fathers' groups and cannot be readily classified as either work or leisure.

The law change in 1976 in England and Wales enabled adopted people to access their original birth information and trace their biological relatives; a process previously denied to them. Recent research suggests that the search and reunion process may hold beneficial consequences for those involved. However this area is under-researched, particularly in the UK and within psychology as a discipline; additionally little qualitative research has been carried out. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with twelve participants who were adopted and had made contact with their biological relatives and Foucauldian Discourse Analysis used to explore the discourses they employed and encountered. Nine main discourses were identified: 'Adoption is a gift', 'Adoption is a process of loss, abandonment and grief, 'Search and reunion is a betrayal', 'Responsibility to know your medical, biological and psychological history', 'Family discourses', 'Illegitimacy', 'Search and reunion is undertaken by unstable people', 'Birth information is destabilising requiring state intervention', 'Search and reunion is destabilising'. The analysis revealed contradictory and conflicting discourses where searching for certain information was understood as reasonable; however, actual direct contact between the two parties (reunion) and post-reunion relationships were made problematic. This study proposes that these discourses are linked to search and reunion as having a perceived power to destabilise the 'traditional' family units of the adoptive and of the birth family. There is also the potential to destabilise the adoption process and search and reunion is thus discouraged by many discourses. Due to the lack of research in this area using this methodology, further areas of potential research were suggested with particular reference to the relevance of this research to donor conceived persons. Limitations of the study are discussed and clinical implications addressed

In recent years, there has been much investigation into the impact that having children has on mothers' decisions to enter paid employment. Researchers have identified how the age and number of children condition the type of employment, the shift patterns and hours of work, which in tum influence the domestic division of labour. Public discourses about the appropriateness of maternal employment identify the potential 'damage' that the employment of mothers might have for their own family and work experiences as well as for children's development. Yet, much social research has ignored children's voices and, in particular, the advancement of feminist perspectives has not encouraged researchers to address children's experience directly, seeing them as receivers of women's work and attention. It must be acknowledged that children are not just passively affected by mothers' decisions relating to employment. By considering the employment of mothers from the child's perspective, my research engages with current debates in the study of childhood about the importance of identifying children as agents, which have influenced growing interest in children's and young people's geographies. The primary aim of this research is to explore how children receive and perceive their parents' employment. By engaging with children aged five to six and eight to nine years in the West Cumbrian context, it explores the significance of local socio-economic circumstances in affecting the employment types and arrangements of parents as articulated by these young people. It explores how children experience these varying employment types, and how the configurations of the home and work spheres impact upon their experiences. Drawing upon the concepts of habitus, and social and cultural capital, it analyses their combined contribution to the differential life experiences and views of the children in the study. The construction of gender roles and parenthood through normative discourses is addressed, and the thesis illustrates that motherhood and fatherhood are fluid and fluctuating identities that can vary between areas. It also explores the way home and work are divided in different contexts. Overall, the thesis contributes to discourses about motherhood, childhood and family life, addresses the use of family time, and questions children's understandings of employment and the impact this has on their conceptualisations of their lives. The thesis looks critically at the relative importance of class, economic background and place in transmitting the gendered aspects of employment and home life intergenerationally.

This thesis uses and extends Raymond Williams' (1961; 1977) structure of feeling approach to locate a mood about parenting during the New Labour years, and to consider what this approach can reveal about the presence, power and position of policy in parents' lives. It adapts the structure of feeling approach in two particular ways: by including interviews alongside policy and popular cultural sources; and by extending the notion of feeling to include personal feelings and their interaction with the wider public mood. These aclaptions were particularly relevant for a subject as personal as parenting, and for a cultural context which placed so much attention on the personal and personal responsibilities for monitoring and supervising the self (Giddens, 1991; Rose, 1999). In locating and analysing the structure of feeling, the thesis draws on the concepts of ideological dilemmas and interpretative repertoires which have been described as a range of competing ideologies that make up beliefs, values, practices and wisdoms of particular cultures, and a range of different rhetorical resources people have available to them to discuss and make sense of the dilemmas (Billig, 2001; Edley, 2001). In identifying three particular dilemmas - about the genclered nature of parenting, expertise about parenting, and work in the context of parenting - the thesis locates dominant and alternative ideas about parenting which point to a structure of feeling that is full of contestation which is managed through discourses of 'choice' and 'what works'. The thesis explores the personal responsibilities placed on parents for managing these dilemmas and the strategies they deploy to do this, and reveals that these strategies can vary according to parents' personal dispositions but also their social positionings. This thesis demonstrates the usefulness and significance of the structure of feeling approach for locating and understanding social inequalities and their (lack of) transformation in a cultural era emphasising the personal and personal responsibility.

Background: Short-term interventions involving video-feedback have been found to be effective in enhancing parental sensitivity in maltreating families'. Video Interaction Guidance (VIG) is a relationship-based intervention in which clients are guided to reflect on video clips of their own successful interactions. Aims: This research aims to explore the experiences of parents participating in a VIG programme and the impact of VIG on parental sensitivity and attunement, mind-minded interactions and parental mentalisation in families where there are concerns about child neglect. Sample: Four parent - child dyads were recruited during VIG programmes carried out by the NSPCC in Northern Ireland under its 'Neglect Theme'. Methods: A multiple-case study design was used, with qualitative and quantitative methods employed. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with parents within two weeks of the programme completion and analysed using Thematic Analysis. Recordings of parent - child interactions and shared reviews from three phases across the VIG programme were collected. Video analysis was conducted on parent - child interactions to record number of attuned, discordant and . missed responses, and number of mind-minded interactions. Video analysis was conducted of twenty minutes of the shared reviews to record the number of parental mentalisation comments. Results: Parents reported that VIG enhanced their sense of self as parents and their relationships with their children. Practical and interpersonal aspects of VIG were identified as explanations for its success. Quantitative data failed to provide substantial evidence for the impact of VIG on parental sensitivity and attunement, mind-minded interactions and parental mentalisation. Conclusions: Practical and interpersonal aspects of VIG explain its efficacy as an intervention to improve relationships in families where children's needs are being neglected.

Striking patterns of late fertility are now firmly entrenched within British demography. This rise in age at first birth has not been observed uniformly across fertility schedules, but represents an exit from parenthood during the mid to late twenties. Substantial numbers of men and women continue to become parents at an early age while growing numbers postpone parenthood. Socioeconomic differentials predict age at first parenthood, with those with advantaged characteristics being associated with postponement. However, this pattern is by no means clear, and current models reveal that a substantial portion of the variance in timing remains unexplained. The overarching hypothesis tested in this thesis using data from two nationally representative birth cohort studies is that the timing of parenthood is a joint product of socioeconomic factors and contextual factors: Contextual factors govern the transition to parenthood through influencing the perception of socioeconomic factors in addition to sanctioning normative fertility behaviour. This theory is tested using fertility histories from both men and women, and modelling contextual childhood predictors of the timing of parenthood using binary logistic and event history regression models. Through examining the characteristics of early parents and those who postpone parenthood, this thesis finds that values about fertility and the lifecourse predict parenthood at both ends of the fertility spectrum, independent of socioeconomic factors. Philoprogenetive tendencies predict both early parenthood and moderate projections of future childlessness, while dislike of school, low parental educational expectations and region of residence predict early parenthood. The definition of 'early' parenthood is also explored thoroughly and is contrasted as being both a political and social construct. The conclusion of this exploration is the derivation of relative and absolute binary definitions of 'early' that are used throughout the thesis resulting in novel distinctions being found between patterns of early motherhood and early fatherhood.

No description available.

This thesis focuses on parenting with a learning disability. Part one, the literature review, focuses on a specific area of the literature to date; that of informal support for parents with learning disabilities. It argues that whilst the literature has mainly focused on professional support, it is equally if not more important to address the informal support available to parents. It therefore systematically reviews articles available in this area concluding that whilst there is evidence for a lack of informal support for parents with learning disabilities, a more fine grained understanding of the interactions between all levels of context within parents' lives is needed. Part two, the empirical paper, explores parenting with a learning disability in an ethnic minority community, a hitherto neglected area. Specifically it focuses on the Bangladeshi community in Tower Hamlets and uses in-depth interviews to qualitatively explore how understandings of learning disability and parenthood impact upon the lives of parents with learning disabilities. It concludes that there is an expectation that people with learning disabilities within this community will become parents, stemming partly from an understanding of learning disability that does not focus on disability and an understanding of parenting that does not focus on individual competence. It highlights the numerous tensions this creates when negotiating with others who have different perspectives, particularly professional services. Part three, the critical appraisal, discusses the issues that have preoccupied the researcher during the research process and appraises the method of analysis utilised. It focuses in particular on researching across different contexts and the challenges and opportunities this has presented.

This thesis provided an in-depth methodological study of the assessment of risk in early parent-infant relationships via caregivers’ representations of their infant and their relationship with them. Three approaches to the assessment of relational risk were examined in detail: parent-report questionnaires, parental Reflective Functioning (RF), and a newly developed coding system for assessing risk in parents’ representations of their relationship with their infant: the Assessment of Representational Risk (ARR). The validity and reliability of these measures were investigated in high- and low-risk parent-infant samples in relation to socio-demographic factors, parental psychopathology, adult attachment, and parent-infant interactions. Parent-report methods were found to be problematic for the assessment of parent-infant relationships in clinical samples. Mothers’ ratings of their infants were strongly related to their own level of distress and unrelated to observer or clinician ratings of infant interactive behaviour. The Reflective Functioning and ARR coding systems, both of which are applied to parents’ narratives about their relationship with their babies in semi-structured interviews, provided meaningful, reliable and valid tools for assessing the quality of the parent-infant relationship in various ways. The ARR identified three typologies of parental representations of the parent-infant relationship that may impinge on the parent-infant relationship: Hostile, Helpless and Narcissistic. These representations modified the prediction of later parent-infant interaction from parental reflective functioning and adult attachment style. The Assessment of Representational Risk is an easily accessible new tool for parent-infant assessments that provided a useful adjunct to the RF coding system. The methodological, theoretical and clinical implications of the findings were discussed.