In Japan, COVID-19-time has been marked by avoidance of “the 3 Cs“: closed spaces, crowds and close-contact situations. The term, selected late last year as the most popular new word of 2020, encapsulates governmental advice, recommended but not legally enforced.… Read More »
Impact of covid-19 on care home relatives – first findings
A team of researchers has been investigating the impact of covid-19 on families with relatives in care homes. The ‘impact of covid on care home relatives’ project is led by George Palattiyil Senior Lecturer of Social Work, School of Social and Political Science at the University of Edinburgh and is funded by the Chief Scientist Office.… Read More »
Children’s hearing system fails to address child sexual exploitation
Research by Barnardo’s Scotland and the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration considered 44 cases where child sexual exploitation (CSE) was referenced in reports (mostly by police or social work). They also considered 30 more cases where researchers identified the child as a very likely victim.… Read More »
Inclusion of parents and LGBTQ youth in teen dating violence research and prevention programs: A review of current research
In North America, teen dating violence among adolescents is a significant health concern. LGBTQ youth disproportionately experience bullying, peer aggression, suicide and peer harassment. In the United States, 1 in 9 adolescent women and 1 in 12 adolescent males have experienced a form of TDV… Read More »
South Asian child sexual abuse – what we need to know
The June report published by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) discusses how children and young people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities (BAME) can face additional barriers to disclosing and reporting child sexual abuse. I have been researching one such barrier for three years, investigating how concepts of Shame and Honour in South Asian communities can amplify… Read More »
A blog conversation between Helen Moewaka Barnes and Rosalind Edwards: indigenous knowledges and intersectionality
The Centre for Research on Families and Relationships is holding its seminar, ‘Intersectionality Families and Relationships – Colonisation, Climate Change, Children’s Rights: Has Covid-19 changed the agenda?’ on the 11th and 12th of November 2020. In this short blog, two of our guest speakers Helen Moewaka Barnes and Ros Edwards, talk… Read More »
Family conversations online and abroad during Covid-19: the differences between Chinese Families with daughter and with son
International students at the uncertain stage between teenage and independent adulthood have been particularly vulnerable during lockdown. Many are living far from relatives, with limited social networks and lacking the experience to navigate this public health emergency. At the same time, forms of socialisation shifted.… Read More »
Congratulations to Dr Sarah Nelson
CRFR are delighted that Dr Sarah Nelson, Research Associate at CRFR, has been awarded an OBE for her longstanding work on behalf of survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Sarah has conducted research and used it to advocate for survivors over many decades.… Read More »
How resilient do we want our children and young people to be?
As a social worker I was fortunate to meet a number of children and young people who I would describe as ‘resilient’. The work of Gilligan (2001) was highly influential on my practice and I considered ways in which I might foster resilience in the children I worked with, particularly those children to whom we owed corporate parenting responsibilities… Read More »
In the Shadow of a Pandemic: Harare’s Street Youth Experience COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown has had unprecedented impact on all our lives. In Zimbabwe, where two-thirds of the population live in poverty (World Food Programme, 2019), lockdown has exacerbated water and food shortages and seen curfews, roundups and forced removal of young people living on the streets.… Read More »
Couples’ geography and network overlap: spatial mobility skills and conjugal quality
This research aims to study how couple satisfaction is related to the network and geography of couples in a motility approach. Family migration and physical distance with family and friends may cause strains on the relationship and can sometimes lead to union dissatisfaction and dissolution. Many studies have focused on women’s employment,… Read More »
‘Doing friendship’ at a distance
Friendships are valued as a form of exchanging social support – information, resources and mutual confiding – and for the enjoyment of taking part in activities together, sharing humour and having fun. These diverse ways of ‘doing friendship’ contribute to our sense of self and belonging.… Read More »
Why we need to listen to families in fuel poverty about smart meters?
Fuel poverty is a pressing issue, one likely to be magnified by the current COVID-19 pandemic. Many households will increase their energy use through spending more time at home at the same time as incomes may be reduced. Smart technology has been positioned by developers and government as potentially able to alleviate fuel poverty, yet there has… Read More »
Educating Children During and After Covid-19, Opportunity for Change?
When in January 2020 I first heard about a virus sweeping through China, I rolled into a big branded pharmacy and bought the last 2 remaining anti-viral hand-sanitiser. These types of items were already flying off the shelves. Those of us purchasing at that time would most likely be the ones preparing for a pandemic, we at best guessed the virus would be here very soon, and at… Read More »
Family planning DURING COVID-19: A baby ‘bust’, not ‘boom’
The coronavirus pandemic is continuing to have a significant impact on women’s and couples’ reproductive lives. Social distancing and ‘stay at home’ measures have already seen a significant disruption to fertility treatment, maternity services and access to family planning services, leading to concerns… Read More »
Listening to young people during Covid-19 challenges common adult assumptions about their peer relationships
The experiences and perspectives of children and young people are generally missing from coverage and discussions of the Covid-19 pandemic and its effects. This is not a unique situation, as children’s status in society positions them as a marginalised group. In this blog post, I will focus on what children and young people’s experiences of … Read More »
Birth and beyond in a pandemic: Findings from a project with mothers in the England lockdown of spring 2020
When I found myself sitting with PPE-clad nurses in a GP surgery with my 8 week old infant being vaccinated amidst pin-drop silence in an empty clinic, I knew that I would raise her, locked down, unable to meet friends, my parents unable to fly in from India to see me, unable to attend post-natal clinics, unable to catch day-time moments of sleep with our 4 year old also home now, as nurseries closed… Read More »
COVID: Outside Our Door
A pandemic is outside our door, outside the safe walls of our little home. We’re both cooped up, inside two tiny rooms, trying to maneuver our way through another period of unchartered waters. Over the years, you grew from a small boy to a young man. And in this time… Read More »
The vicious circle of familism in housing and care during Covid-19 in Greece
COVID-19 impacts all aspects of family life and inter-generational relationships, through housing and informal systems of social care in Greece. In the centre of the political discourse is home and its association with care.
‘Stay safe’ is the wish among people both in personal and work-related communication as well as… Read More »
Capturing the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the family relationships of young fathers
The COVID-19 pandemic is impacting on all our lives, albeit in markedly different ways. A frequently over-looked population, especially in family research, are young fathers. Even before the crisis, young fathers (aged 25 and under) already faced a range of disadvantages and were stigmatised… Read More »
Mothers who allege abuse more likely to lose custody of their children
To work at length with childhood sexual abuse (CSA) in the UK is to become aware that mothers who voice fears of abuse by the father, after separation or divorce, often find contact with their child reduced or lost. This raises serious child protection concerns.… Read More »
Digital by default: the new normal of family life under COVID-19
Just a few weeks ago, children went to school, parents worried about their screen time at home, and the digital future was the stuff of science fiction. Under COVID-19, school has gone online, worries about screen time have gone through the roof, and life is fast becoming digital by default.… Read More »
The social life of self-harm, in lockdown
There has been much written recently on the effects of the lock down on mental health. How do people react to being alone? How does isolation reinforce previous vulnerabilities, and give rise to the perceived need to reinvent one’s everyday life in the face of rampant anxiety? … Read More »
Introducing The Centre for Transformative Change: Educational and Life Transitions (TCELT) blog
There is a growing body of activity focused on collecting and disseminating the early experiences of COVID-19 and its wide-ranging impact on communities of research, policy and practice. The Centre for Transformative Change: Educational and Life Transitions (TCELT) blog series is one such initiative.… Read More »
Locking Down or Breaking Up: Newly Cohabitating Couples in the Time of Coronavirus
The lockdown in the United Kingdom has changed relationships and dating drastically. Gone are the one night stands and the casual hook-ups, and budding relationships have either been put on hold or ramped up to warp-speed. Jenny Harries, the deputy chief medical officer of England, gave some unexpected advice to new couples during a press briefing: move in together… Read More »
Stay-at-home measures and domestic violence amid the Covid-19 crisis
Media attention has picked up on the risk of an increase in domestic violence in conditions of lockdown under the Covid-19 emergency. It is obvious that being confined to the home with an abusive partner is likely to have dramatic affects on the everyday life of women in this situation. For obvious reasons, direct evidence of… Read More »
Call for blog posts on families and relationships under lockdown and dealing with covid 19
COVID-19 is impacting on all aspects of family life and personal relationships, as well as on our formal and informal systems of social care. How are we ‘doing’ family life and practicing intimacies during lockdown? What are the consequence on our intergenerational relations – with the youngest and oldest – and how are we protecting those most vulnerable? And what effect has physical distancing had on our connections to strangers, to community life, to civil society and the environment around us? As we all navigate the early days of the pandemic, the Centre for Research on Families and Relationships welcomes blog submissions issues from academics and practitioners working within the field of families and relationships. How has the pandemic affected your families, relationships, the community in which you live and work? What are the challenges you have faced so far, and what are your expectations – good and bad – for the future? Submissions can include, but are not limited to, topics such as caring and intimacy, intergenerational relationships, bodies and emotions, social connections, loneliness, work-life balance, inequality & exclusion, and the environment, as well as reflections on the long-term effects of the coronavirus on service delivery, funding and practice. … Read More
Research with young environmental activists in the UK: challenges and opportunities presented by COVID Lockdown to the researcher and the researched
Like many researchers, particularly those whose focus is empirical, my data collection was stopped in its tracks in the days leading up to lock down in the UK in March 2020. Along with my research grinding to a halt, so did my ability to think beyond the basics in those days. This rotated around; how could I keep myself and family safe… Read More »
Families and relationships amidst the Covid-19 pandemic: Call for blog submissions
COVID-19 is impacting on all aspects of family life and personal relationships, as well as on our formal and informal systems of social care. How are we ‘doing’ family life and practicing intimacies during lockdown? What are the consequence on our intergenerational relations – with the youngest and oldest – and how are we protecting those most vulnerable?… Read More »
The Children (Scotland) Bill – The Justice Committee’s Recommendations at Stage 1
The Justice Committee of the Scottish Parliament have just issued their Stage 1 Report on the Children (Scotland) Bill. The Bill will reform family law in Scotland, and particularly promises to improve the participation rights of children within family law proceedings. While the Committee approved of this promise, it felt substantial changes and additions were needed to achieve this. We agree. … Read More »
COVID and ‘BIG QUAL’
It seems appropriate to review the possibilities of secondary analysis of data that has already been gathered by face-to-face techniques, as the current pandemic closes down many such forms of research. The substitution of virtual means of data collection for face-to-face means, such as interviewing using internet telephony, is not the only possible… Read More »
‘A recipe for better child participation’
Thirty years ago, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) was adopted. The UNCRC is the most ratified human rights convention. Only the USA has not yet ratified the UNCRC. Article 12 of the UNCRC recognises children’s right to participate in decisions that affect them. Since the UNCRC’s ratification,… Read More »
Researching LGBT+ Families and Relationships in Africa
I have been working during 2019 as part of a new consortium project, focused on supporting LGBT+ people in five African cities within Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Zambia and Mozambique (‘LGBT+’ meaning lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and others with experiences outside heterosexual norms of gender and sexuality). The project – Strong in Diversity, Bold on Inclusion… Read More »
Kindness in court: who cares?
Scotland has an enviable reputation for being a country with a compassionate heart. As a nation, we have been at the forefront of a recent upsurge in understanding of the biological science of the impact of childhood trauma on the developing brain, gaining an awareness of adverse childhood experiences (“ACEs”). Much of the campaigning has been at grassroots level… Read More »
Understanding children’s ‘accommodation’ of parental separation and divorce
The opportunity for young people to speak for themselves about their experiences of parental separation is often missing from the research literature. Their participation tends to be based on their parent(s) participation in previous studies, requires parental consent, or their accounts are seen through a professional lens.… Read More »
Childhood sexual abuse: At the heart of problems with ACEs policy, Part 2
In part 1 of this blog (5/7/19) I outlined reasons why reducing childhood sexual abuse (CSA) in society, and addressing its damaging effects in adulthood, need to form and remain a key component of ACES policy. The considerable risks to mental health, and now increasingly to physical health also, have been widely researched and evidenced for decades: more so than any other… Read More »
Adverse Childhood Experiences: a social justice perspective
by Gary Walsh (This blog was first posted on 15th May 2019) In this blog I am going to look at ACEs from a social justice perspective. So, what does social justice mean to me? “Research in the field of childhood studies defines social justice in terms of children and young people’s entitlement (e.g. to the law, services and democratic processes), redistribution (e.g. of rights, duties and resources), recognition (e.g. of culture, difference, capacity) and respect (e.g. of strengths, attributes, abilities).” (Davis et al., 2014) Nancy Fraser understands justice as “…social arrangements that permit all to participate as peers in social life.” (Fraser in Lovell 2007, p.20) In short, social justice is about making sure everyone in society is taken care of and included. This means paying close attention to sites of injustice such as power, poverty, gender, race, sexual orientation, disabilities. Using this understanding, a social justice critique of ACEs involves asking whether the ACEs agenda contributes to socio-economic redistribution, recognition, respect and participation. In this blog I explore some thoughts on this, before concluding that the ACEs agenda contributes little to social justice and could potentially be an unhelpful distraction. I finish by suggesting some alternative ways forward. … Read More
Childhood sexual abuse: At the heart of problems with ACEs policy, Part 1
It was the impact of childhood sexual abuse trauma which gave Professor Vincent Felitti and colleagues the first, vital clues to persistent poor health and unhealthy behaviours in adults. It was the trigger to the range of ACE studies they then conducted, and to numerous others held internationally ever since.… Read More »
ACEs – repackaging old problems in shiny new (Emperor’s) clothes
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are defined as stressful events that occur in childhood which are believed to have lifelong impacts on health, wellbeing and health-related behaviours. This blog highlights some (but not all!) limitations with ACEs as a concept and a practice.… Read More »
Resilience is a process and opportunity, not something children have or don’t have
by Professor Ramona Alaggia Studying resilience with children and adults exposed to intimate partner violence (IPV) has taken me on a journey that has resulted in a fundamental shift in how I do research, teach and counsel clients. This has been significant in my understanding of adversity, trauma and the profound role of resilience. When I initially encountered the term resilience I approached it with skepticism and questions. Was it a “feel good” term to minimize the fall-out from very big problems in people’s lives? Or a tool used by governments to scale back on service funding using platitudes like kids are resilient; they’ll be fine; they’ll bounce back – which has not been my experience with highly vulnerable children. Fostering resilience is a concerted effort that needs to be intentionally built into programming. Is resilience something people simply have or don’t have with very little in between? Up until recently, the research literature focused largely on individual characteristics for explaining why some people are more resilient than others. These identified characteristics are often related to personality traits – including intelligence, easy temperament, and extroversion for example – traits that appear from birth. Is resilience a state or a trait? … Read More
ResiliencebyDesign Research Innovation Lab
by Dr. Robin Cox, Laura H. V. Wright, Tiffany Hill, Dr. Tamara Plush, Dr. Sarah Fletcher, Nigel Deans In this blog, we hear about the work of ResiliencebyDesign Research Innovation Lab, an interdisciplinary team of researchers committed to using applied, participatory research with young people. For more information about ResiliencebyDesign, their vision and projects, visit ResiliancebyDesign.com or check out the overview video here (3 min) https://vimeo.com/263796486 (This article was also posted on 22 February 2019 at https://blogs.ed.ac.uk/CRFRresilience/2019/02/22/resiliencebydesign-research-innovation-lab/) Introduction “Where we conduct research as a method of moving hearts and minds to generate conversations that matter and lead to action” The interdisciplinary ResiliencebyDesign (RbD) team is committed to applied, participatory research with youth to address the complex and interrelated problems of disasters, climate change, and conflict. Our projects combine capacity building with a range of research methodologies (e.g., arts-based, participatory video, digital storytelling, surveys). We believe in the potential of young people as resilience leaders and change makers. In partnership with youth, we use creative process, innovation and research to explore, connect, and seed new ideas and social change. Our goal is to develop and implement strategies, practices, and policies that improve local, national, and international disaster risk reduction and climate change … Read More
A new approach to improving youth mental public health – the TRIUMPH network
One in eight children and young people experience mental health problems and the majority of these have onset before their mid-twenties. Yet, 70% of young people have not had the appropriate intervention that they need. Young people face considerable pressures as they grow up; pressures that are driven by… Read More »
Making Scotland an ACE informed nation: continuing the conversation – an event summary
by Dr Emma Davidson We began a conversation on ACEs and resilience in December 2017 at the seminar, ‘The Troubling Concept of Resilience’, where Dr Eric Carlin and myself voiced our concerns that the dominant narrative on resilience could obscure inequalities; penalising individuals by making them responsible for their own wellbeing. Since then, we have witnessed the mounting influence of ACE and resilience-focused policy in Scotland. It is now even more important to provide a space in which popular rhetoric on ACEs and resilience can be constructively and respectfully critiqued. Our event on 6th November 2018 aimed to reignite that process. We welcomed three speakers: Dr Amy Chandler, Dr Cara Blaisdell and Laura Wright, each of whom talked from their perspective of their own field of research. Amy’s presentation (which you can watch here) examined the potentially counter-productive ways ACEs are used in research on suicide and self-harm. Early experiences, Amy noted, are undeniably important in shaping later risks of, or experiences with, suicide and self-harm. However, there is a tendency to rely on a mechanical or ‘addictive’ analysis, with a correlation drawn between early adversity and later problems. The work of explaining what these correlations actually mean, or understanding the mechanisms … Read More
Ace Awareness, damage narratives and social justice in early years practice: personal and professional reflections
As an experienced practitioner, researcher and lecturer specializing in early childhood education, I have had a mixed reaction to the recent push for being ACE Aware. Discussions about love, kindness and empathy are very welcome and needed. At Strathclyde, our students discuss how their settings are moving away from punitive practices, toward… Read More »
Bringing girls’ gender identities into children’s rights
Whilst attending the UN Day of General Discussion in Geneva, I was part of a panel discussion of adults and young people sharing the platform equally, which in itself signified much more than dialogue at the UN level; it was a milestone reflecting a substantial change on the way that children and young people can be positioned in public decision-making.… Read More »
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