The ways in which women experience and narrate their journeys into first time motherhood is explored through a focus on narrative construction and reconstruction. The unique positioning of childbearing - at the interface between the biological and the social - both shapes expectations and renders experiences which do not conform to idealised notions of motherhood, diflicult to voice. The 17 participants in this study were all white, working women, who were expecting their first child. In depth interviews were carried out on three separate occassions, both antenatally and postnataily, over approximately a year. The longitudinal dimensions of the study enabled narrative trajectories to be collected and strategic construction and presentation of narratives to be explored. The movement in and out of the worlds of work and home was found to provide different reference points from which to make sense of, and narrate, a shifting sense of self. Narrative has not previously been used to explore women's experiences of transition to first time motherhood. Gathering women's narratives over time enabled different subjectivities to be explored and narrative layers to be discerned. The shifts made visible by this approach revealed the ways in which transition to motherhood is socially constructed and experienced within the context of differing professional and personal time frames. Within these competing time frames epistemological and ontological shifts take place. Eventually, epistemological and ontological security led women to challenge assumptions around mothering with which they may have previously collaborated. Feeling able to cope led to the voicing, retrospectively, of past difficult experiences. Narratives were reconstructed and professional constructions of 'normal' transition to motherhood, questioned. The research suggests that needs can remain unvoiced in a context where diverse mothering experiences are unjformly measured. The implications of the research for policy and practise, which is based on normative preoccupations, is considered.

This study analyses socio-legal issues pertaining to sexuality and reproduction within the context of the realities and lives of Kenyan women and in particular, Kenyan adolescent girls. The study explores the regulatory mechanisms relating to adolescent sexuality and fertility, and examines how these have been historically constructed both to limit and to open up the knowledge and choices of adolescent girls regarding their sexuality and reproduction. It examines the historical nature of the actors and the regulatory mechanisms (within the specific contexts), how these define the status of women within their families and communities, and their ability to regulate their sexuality and fertility. It unearths the intricate nature of the interrelationship between the actors and regulatory mechanisms, and develops a framework of analysis for this task. The study argues that regulation of adolescent sexuality and fertility is complex and multi-dimensional. Thus efforts at regulation must consider the nature of sexuality, its construction, the gender relationships, and the power relationships between the social actors. The study concludes that more qualitative studies that focus on the regulation of adolescent sexuality and fertility, the plural nature of law and its relationship with other non-legal forms of social regulation are crucial, if the complexity of this process is to be better understood.

The first chapter of this thesis examines the factors that assist and impede disclosure of homosexuality. Factors have been divided into intrapersonal, interpersonal and societal/environmental categories for convenience of reporting. However, it is recognised that these factors do not exist in isolation of each other. The second chapter investigates the experience of gay fathers who have disclosed their homosexuality to their children. Analysis of interviews carried out with gay fathers suggests a model of disclosure where fathers achieve a realisation of their homosexuality followed by a desire to be honest about it. Fathers then disclosed their sexuality to their children. The effects on the child, on the father and on the father/child relationship are discussed. The impact of supportive others who are important in the lives of the father and children seem to be paramount to a successful outcome. Clinical implications of this study are discussed along with the study’s limitations and ideas for future research. The third chapter examines the experience of a gay man who became a father via donor insemination. Salient factors related to this method of fathering, being gay, and being later contacted by the child are discussed. The final chapter contains the authors’ reflections on a personal experience that impeded disclosure of his own homosexuality. The author entered reparative therapy holding the belief that he did not want to be gay. Following therapy failure, the author reached a position of self acceptance. Implications for clinicians are discussed.

The thesis invites women to voice their perceptions and experiences on being lone mothers, in receipt of Income Support and what 'support' means to them in their daily lives as carers of pre-school children. This qualitative study is set against firstly, the backdrop of the increasing numbers of lone mothers and their reliance on income support. Also prevalent was a negative discourse around lone motherhood. Secondly, lone mothers were encountering the consequences of a restructuring of social and welfare policy and practice, with the changing boundaries between public and private responsibilities impacting on their daily lives. Thirdly, within this changing socio-economic and political landscape, both neo-liberal and 'third way' governments identify kinship as the appropriate resource for families in need. The study draws data and analysis from the perceptions and experiences of, initially, thirty-three women in five focus groups and more particularly, from thirtyseven lone mothers on Income Support. The findings of the thesis highlight the qualitative difference between alone and not alone, lone mothers. This key, but previously underresearched distinction, is shown to turn on the quality and consistency of support. It is the degrees of availability or lack of social and material support which is found to be crucial in mediating, moderating or amplifying the aloneness of the lone mother. The research illustrates how this qualitative difference in women's lives cannot be captured within categories of quantitative data. Emphasised is how different forms of support serve as gateways through which other forms of support are accessed. What is argued is that those lacking support may face being multiply disadvantaged and experience cumulative levels of support deprivation which formal support may do little to alleviate. Lastly, while all forms of support are identified as being mutually reinforcing, child-care appears to be particularly pivotal. As a central gateway to accessing other support, it directly enhances well being and the capability to care.

An increase in spinsterhood is one aspect of recent changes in family and household formation. Family change has been the focus of much academic and political attention, however there is little contemporary research on singleness. This thesis explores the experiences and meanings of contemporary spinsterhood, and considers the extent to which these have altered in the context of recent social change. Quantitative analysis of the British Household Panel Survey demonstrates that recent cohorts of men and women are experiencing longer periods of singleness prior to the formation of any residential partnership. This thesis explores the life histories of thirty-seven nevermarried single women aged between thirty-five and eighty-three, an age range permitting a consideration of continuities and changes in experiences of singleness over time. This sample included mothers who had 'opted into' solo motherhood via artificial insemination and adoption. The thesis utilised narrative analysis to consider participants' experiences of singleness in relation to social networks and caring relationships, education and employment experiences, and gendered subjectivities. The role of social and institutional contexts in shaping these women's choices and experiences is also considered. This exploration of the actualities of contemporary women's lives found that gender and partnership status continue to structure the possibilities and strategies available to women in both the private and the public sphere. However, their varying experiences also demonstrate significant material and cultural changes, enabling wider opportunities for some. These changes have implications for the practices and discursive possibilities for contemporary spinsters. This thesis considers the extent to which the new discourses and practices emerging in the context of wider social change contribute to a dismantling of normative female gender identities predicated on marriage and motherhood.

This study seeks to make a contribution to the field of population studies by throwing some light on the explanation of fertility change in developing countries. It hopes to do this by investigating the role of the family and its structure in explaining fertility attitudes and behaviour in Jordan. Some of the causes - at the level of intermediate variables - of regional variations in fertility levels and fertility preferences in Jordan are examined. The study tries to analyse several aspects of change in the family system in Jordan: social, economic kin-relationships and wealth flow directions within the family. Also, fertility attitudes are examined in relation to contrasting social contexts. It is assumed that fertility decline will be the result of certain changes in the family's internal and external social and economic structure. In order to test this assumption it is necessary to examine the nature of internal and external family relationships in terms of the following five dimensions: a) the scale and character of mutual economic obligations (or feelings of financial responsibility) which exist within the families under study b) the nature of the family budget (to what extent it is a common budget or one divided into separate units related to individual wage earners) c) relations between the father and his children in terms of obedience and societal and family norms (even when the family is geographically separated as a result of migration) d) the coherence and structure of the family system (is it a closed or open nuclear family or does it still have elements of the extended family?), and women's roles and status within the family e) wealth flow direction and its relation to power structure within the family. Results suggest that changes in the family's internal and external social and economic structure have a significant influence on fertility attitudes which, in turn, tell that fertility decline is an outcome of family change.

In rapidly urbanising Sub-Saharan African contexts, not much is known about the economic vulnerability of elderly people and its consequences. Dominant international institutions have indicated that the economic situation of elderly people in developing countries is precarious, especially where high levels of poverty and minimal social safety nets are the norm. As a consequence, the impact of economic vulnerability can be quite punishing on disadvantaged households with an ageing elderly person. Yet, the case of urban elderly Nigerians has thus far remained largely unresearched. This thesis represents a quantitative investigation of economic vulnerability amongst urban elderly Nigerians and its health-related consequences, examined through a consumption allocation welfare measure. It draws on economic, gerontological, and sociological perspectives to undertake this task. The key drivers of economic vulnerability and resulting consequences are likely to be complex and varied. Urban Elderly Nigerians may be economically vulnerable because they possess certain pre-disposing characteristics. This study is concerned with investigating these associated determinants of economic vulnerability amongst urban elderly Nigerians using a recent nationally representative household survey—the Nigerian General Household Panel Survey (NGHPS), which was collected by the National Bureau of Statistics in 2010. The first part of the study examines the determinants of economic vulnerability, through the use of a consumption allocation model. The findings of this study reveal that the age of the household head, household size, household structure, and regional location, are key determinants of economic vulnerability amongst urban elderly households in Nigeria. As a consequence, does economic vulnerability (represented by consumption allocation) influence health status and spending amongst elderly Nigerian households? I extracted useful data from the NGHPS to address this pertinent question. This is the second part of the study. The findings suggest that economic vulnerability is strongly related to health status and health spending. This thesis highlights key methodological challenges in using a secondary data source to study economic vulnerability amongst elderly people in a developing country context. The study also offers some policy options to tackle economic vulnerability among elderly households in urban Nigeria, and its health-related consequences.

This is an interdisciplinary PhD research project, spanning the ESRC Centre for Population Change and the Centre for Research on Ageing. Using British Household Panel Survey data, the thesis aims to prove that undertaking a residential move changes the supportive capacity of one’s social network in later life. The study first investigates the determinants of moving home in later life. It then conceptualises and constructs the social networks of older people in the UK, considering key attributes such as network size, frequency, proximity and functions and examines the effects of moving home on these measures. The analysis finds that the incidence of residential mobility is associated with, amongst other things, becoming widowed and experiencing a negative change in health or financial circumstance. Furthermore older people are likely to experience disruption to the supportive capacity of their companionship and community networks following a move. This research has important implications for policy as any damaging effects on an older person’s informal support network may have consequences for their health outcomes and in turn lead to an increased dependence on formal health and social care services at the places to which they move.

No description available.

This research explores the perceptions young Saudi women in Jeddah have of their lives. It seeks to uncover the role and different degrees that obedience and rebellion feature in the everyday lives of the young Saudi women in Jeddah. The subjects of the research were young Saudi women aged 16-21, all living in Jeddah at the time of the study and studying at either high school or university. The study employed a qualitative methodology to identify the extent of obedience and rebellion and their manifestations in the young women’s daily lives. The research relied on in-depth semi-structured interviews as the principal data collection method. By analysing the data derived from this process, I sought to explore the range, subtleties and continuum of rebellion and obedience in terms of three major themes: Hijab, gender relations, and young women’s private spaces. The study found that the participants associated Hijab with high social and religious values and had great respect for it. The conceptualization and practice of wearing Hijab, was associated with freedom and access to ‘the public sphere’ for many participants. In contrast, the study found that Qiwama (Guardianship), a religious Islamic concept that regulates family life, was much less respected by the participants, at least in its traditionalist incarnation that prevails in Saudi Arabia. The traditional Qiwama, per the findings, is a patriarchal structure that results in the reproduction of the social reality that marginalizes women, relegating them to follower status. The female participants rejected this as an incorrect interpretation of religious text. A majority of participants also pointed out that the definition of rebellion differs from one generation to the next. In fact, the participants noted that the actions of young Saudi women that are often classified as rebellious are actually demands for personal rights and an attempt to remove some of the restrictions they face in a subtle way that does not directly clash with family, religion and state policy. This study is important because it represents the unique contribution of giving a voice to young Saudi women to narrate their experiences and explore their ways of subtly negotiating with or conforming to social realities and by so doing enables the examination of the connections between obedience, rebellion, or subtle negotiation.