The inter-sibling relationships of children and young people with autism have generally been overlooked in the literature. Whilst research has increasingly focused on this topic, relatively little is known about the constructions, perceptions and coping responses of typical siblings of children and young people with autism. A child with autism in the family presents a unique challenge and little is known about how this impacts on typical siblings. Typical siblings of children and young people with autism are proposed to be at increased risk for adjustment difficulties, as a result of interactions between complex genetic and environmental variables. Semi-structured, open-ended interviews were conducted with twelve adolescent typical siblings to explore their constructions, perceptions and coping responses. The data was analysed using thematic analysis and nine broad themes emerged: (1) knowledge and understanding of autism; (2) perceptions; (3) the quality of the inter-sibling relationship; (4) the impact of their brothers’ condition; (5) coping strategies; (6) perceptions of others; (7) support; (8) the future; and (9) acceptance and ambivalence. These themes were developed into models and the findings present initial evidence which accounts for some variability in typical siblings’ constructions, perceptions and coping responses. Such factors have important implications for individual adjustment, inter-sibling relationships, intra-familial relationships and global family functioning. These findings may be used to inform future large scale research designs, with a view to developing comprehensive assessment and support services for typical siblings of children and young people with autism. The Educational Psychologist (EP) will be integral in identifying typical siblings who may be at risk for adjustment difficulties. The EP is also well placed to develop interventions and support services for typical siblings of children and young people with autism. Therefore, this research is direct relevance to the EP, as well as those working with children and young people with autism and their families.

People, especially women, are delaying having children until later ages. The average age of first birth in the UK is now 29.5, an increase of six years over the past four decades. This may be problematic not only due to the fact that fertility declines with age (with a marked decrease after age 35) but also due to the fact that older age is associated with more complications during pregnancy and delivery to both mother and baby. Previous research has shown that although people have awareness of fertility risks and issues in general they often underestimate the risks and may not apply them to themselves. The aim of the present thesis is to examine reasons why people may be delaying childbearing, whether they know about the risks associated with reduced fertility and how we can better educate people about these risks.

This thesis is concerned with the news construction of Africa, particularly African women in British and Nigerian newspapers. Informed by feminist epistemology as well as postcolonial theoretical perspectives, it explores the constitutive dynamics of race and gender as identities, which both depict and define African women. African women have historically been excluded from defining how they should talk and be talked about in cultural forms. This thesis uses the news as a negotiating space for certain African women [Nigerians] to participate in defining what it is to be an African woman. In doing this, the thesis serves a political end of giving 'voice' to African women as well as creates a form of dialogue between Western (British) women and African (Nigerian) women. This dialogue is crucial in feminism because the tensions, diversities and differences inherent in feminist debates have made meaningful conversations between women difficult. This study thus steps across cultures by offering a space for a cross-cultural dialogue on news constructs of African women's femininity. The thesis employs both quantitative and qualitative methods, which combine an analysis of texts and group discussions. In this study, I have conducted a symptomatic analysis of British and Nigerian newspapers during 2002, drawing on cultural studies tradition of textual analysis. Reflexive dimensions are an integral part of the whole research process. As a black African Nigerian woman in Britain, I embody some of the tensions and contradictions that characterise feminist cultural debates. This situation positions me squarely as the bridge between two cultures - as the pipe though which the words of one is carried to the other. This role is reflected in the thesis as my reflexive thoughts about the tensions and contradictions spread spasmodically throughout the thesis. By speaking and negotiating across cultures, this thesis provides an avenue for smoothening the tense relations existing between Western and African feminists and thus creates an opportunity for the possibilities of commonalities as well as an ethical relation with 'the other'.

This thesis explores the concepts of power, performativity and place and how these act to produce non-heterosexual women's everyday lives through practices of 'othering'. The thesis explores three feminist poststructural tenets: that everyday life is saturated in power; that identities and bodies are (re )formed through reiterated performances (performativity); and that place is fluid and (re )produced through performativity and power. These tenets are used to explore 28 non-heterosexual women's accounts of their everyday lives. These accounts were formed using six focus groups, three coupled interviews, 23 individual interviews, 22 diaries and six sets of auto-photography. The thesis contextualises these research methods within discourses of feminist methodologies which understand accounts of research as partial, performative and as formed in spaces of betweeness. The concepts, tenets, methodologies and accounts that make up the thesis are understood as mutually (in)forming and not as discrete entities. The thesis considers participants' experiences of heterosexism and genderism. Particular focus is placed on everyday processes of othering in food consumption spaces; how women live with these processes; women's experiences of being mistaken for men; and the (re )formation of place through fantasies and imaginings. Through these explorations the thesis deconstructs dualisms, dichotomies and binaries, contending that everyday life is fonned across and between these boundaries whilst hegemonic power relations are simultaneously (re)performed to maintain heterosexuality and normative femininities 'in place'. Relations of power and performativities render place (in terms of both sites and processes) fluid, (in)forming non-heterosexual women's bodies, identities and places as 'other' in relation to dominant (heterosexual) codes and norms. Discourses of power do not have to be named in order to be materially experienced and this thesis discusses the everyday use of the term 'it' in lieu of words, such as heterosexism and genderism. Moreover, hegemonic heterosexual and gendered codes and norms are diversely (re )made through relations of power and performativities. The thesis concludes by contending that whilst power relations can be theorised as fluid over time, everyday life is often lived as though power is a fixed structure.

Incest was not prohibited in eighteenth-century English society, or so the examination of statute law would lead one to think. This was not due to a lack of interest. In literary texts as varied as Moll Flanders, Horace Walpole's The Mysterious Mother and Henry Neville's The Isle of Pines, incest played crucial roles. Nevertheless, historians have either overlooked its significance its significance, or have assumed the universality of its prohibition. In fact, the eighteenth century had no concept of universal taboo, and the law did not specifically prohibit sexual relations within the nuclear family. All of these factors: the lack of an idea of universal taboo, the complexity of the law, and its importance in literature are focuses of this thesis. This investigation of a hidden phenomenon has utilised a wide range of texts: imaginative productions; church and temporal court records; newspaper accounts; biblical commentary; and legal tracts. Unlike socially oriented studies of the family, all of these sources are read as produced texts in which incest provides a unique lens for viewing attitudes towards relationships between individual and collective identities. The mother who slept with her son, the father who raped his daughter, the brother and sister overcome by desire all contributed to the contemporary understanding of family life. The ability of incest to reveal underlying fault lines in ideas about authority, sexual relations and kinship ties makes it a promising topic. The exploration of legal conceptions of incest examines contemporary prohibitions and their origin in biblical law. Intertwined with the legal discourse on the family were conceptions of natural law. The operation of the church law in the consistory courts and the temporal law in London's Old Bailey provides insight into the relationship between legal understandings and social practice.

This thesis has two broad aims: 1) to explore the history and regulatory structure surrounding television advertising, particularly in relation to issues of ‘harm and offence’; and 2) to examine the regulatory discourses featured in adjudications responding to complaints of (alleged) offensive and/or harmful gender and sexuality portrayals in television advertising. Advertising has been a primary focus for a feminist criticism since, at least, the 1970s, arguing that it features and promotes sexist portrayals of women. However, little academic attention has been paid to the regulation of sexism in advertising, despite its long history. My work seeks to address the lack of research in this area. Using archival research I explore the historical trajectory of regulatory approaches to issues of harm and offence in British television advertising since the establishment of commercial television to present day. I argue that these have, historically, taken a paternalistic, moral stance, whilst issues of sexism have been largely overlooked or misinterpreted as issues of sexual morality. Moreover, through a discourse analysis of adjudications featuring complaints concerning gender and sexuality portrayals – published between 1990 and 2012 – I examine the regulatory discourses constructed in response to public claims of sexist advertising. Here, I make two separate, albeit interlinked, arguments. Firstly, that the regulatory discourse on the sexualisation of women in advertising lacks critical engagement with the meaning of sexual speech, particularly concerning issues of gender. Secondly, I explore, drawing on speech act theory, how regulatory discourse contribute to an ‘undoing’ of sexism, emphasizing a postfeminist reading of sexism as an ironic ‘fantasy’ of a distant past. In this way, I argue that sexist speech comes to be understood as a ‘failed performative’, no longer enacting that which it speaks in the wake of feminist success.

Objectives: People who identify as transgender are reported to experience high levels of mental health problems in comparison to people who do not identify as transgender. The minority stress model has been used to explain these high prevalence rates. But this model was designed to be used in lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) populations (Meyer, 1995, 2003). Researchers have applied some of the hypothesised processes of the model to people who identify as transgender. However, evidence testing the minority stress model in this population is limited. The model postulates that minority stress processes (namely, distal stress, internalised stigma, vigilance and concealment) lead to adverse mental health outcomes. It also states that coping and social support moderate and ameliorate the stress processes. However research on this aspect is inconclusive, with other researchers stating that coping and social support meditate the relationship between internalised stigma and psychological distress. In light of the current literature, this research aimed to test the application of the minority stress model in a sample of people who identified as transgender. It also aimed to test the moderating and mediating roles of coping and social support. Furthermore, this research endeavoured to develop an alternative model (i.e. based on the findings and the literature). Methods: A cross-sectional design was used. Participants were recruited from transgender forums, social groups, transgender events and social media. Those who identified as transgender, under the umbrella term, were invited to complete an online survey (N = 270; mean age = 27.5). The majority of participants (60.4%) described their gender identity as trans women. Results: Multiple linear regression, mediation and moderation analyses were conducted. Results showed that, individually, all the stress processes (distal stress process, internalised stigma, vigilance and concealment) were significantly associated with psychological distress. However, when assessed in combination, only certain stress processes emerged as being significant. With internalised stigma emerging as being significant in all the regression models (i.e. depression, anxiety and stress). No moderation effects were found for coping and social support. Instead, passive coping and social support were found to partially mediate the relationship between internalised stigma and psychological distress. Structural equation modelling was also used to develop hypothesised models based on this data. Conclusion: Limited support was found for the minority stress model within this sample. Hypothesised models were developed instead, to highlight the stress processes involved in depression, anxiety and stress. However, future research is warranted to test these models.

This thesis focusses on issues surrounding parenting beyond the norm. This refers to experiences of parenting and being parented in situations which are not the 'typical'. The first chapter presents a systematic review of qualitative research which has been conducted looking at children and adult children's experience of having a parent with an alcohol problem. Thirteen papers were included in the review. Children described their lives as having been affected by their parent's alcohol problem through to adulthood; impacting on their emotional and psychological development. An adult child's ability to accept and move on from their early experiences are shown to be complex. These families are hard to reach and engage. Therefore, providing children with opportunities to talk to someone outside of the family is important. A critique of the papers included in this review is given and ideas for future research are suggested. Chapter two presents a qualitative research study into the experience mothers have during the early bonding period with twin infants. Six mothers of twins participated in semi-structured interviews. The study was informed and analysed using principles of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The findings of this study suggest the process of bonding with twins is complex, with mothers' experiences being driven by guilt, loss and a need to adapt. All the mothers felt they had bonded but that the process of bonding was different to what they had expected. Results are discussed in line with clinical and research implications. The final chapter is a reflective account of the experience the author had of conducting this research. The paper reflects on the experience of holding both 'insider' and 'outsider' positions, and on the discovery of parallel processes occurring for the author alongside the participants experiences. The meaning of, and the value of reflective practice to the author is also discussed.

Both the literature review and empirical paper address the impact of childhood victimisation; while the literature review focuses on long term impact of child abuse within the context of future parenting, the empirical paper discusses the more immediate effects of childhood victimisation in the form of cyberbullying. While current literature acknowledges the impact of child abuse on mental health and physiological responses, little is known about the impact of childhood abuse on later parenting ability. This review therefore focuses on understanding the role that a maternal history of child abuse plays in the development of attachment relationships with her child. In particular, this paper discusses the mother child attachment relationships in the context of the child's attachment style, maternal sensitivity and maternal availability. Cyberbullying is prominent within school aged children, however few studies have focussed on using qualitative approaches to understand experiences of cyberbullying. Therefore, this empirical paper aims to provide an understanding of the psychological experiences of children who have been cyberbullied. A qualitative approach using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was adopted in order to gain an in depth understanding of experiences. The empirical paper discusses key themes which arose, including the impact of cyberbullying victimisation on self identity and psychological distress. My own experiences of the research process are explored within the reflective paper. This paper uses one model, Gibbs' (1988) reflective cycle, in order to guide the reflective process. The paper addresses the challenges experienced when separating the role of researcher and practitioner and the learning process of the role of researcher. These concepts are explored in relation to learning about Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, the process of interviewing participants, the believability of the information obtained within the interviews and the literature review process.

Historically dementia caregiver research has focused on experiences of burden and the negative consequences of this. However this focus has started to shift to the positive aspects of caregiving. This review presents a systematic and critical overview of research exploring the positive aspects of caregiving for family caregivers of persons with dementia. A literature search identified 20 published articles that met the inclusion criteria. To determine the quality, believability and usefulness of the articles all of the papers were critiqued using a streamlined version of Caldwell, Henshaw and Taylor’s (2005) review framework. The reviewed literature focused on exploring three main areas and papers were grouped accordingly: The positive aspects experienced by caregivers, predictive factors and the impact of positive experiences on caregiver outcomes. Further research using more homogenous samples of caregivers, and focusing on young carers is recommended to flesh out current understanding.