Family studies

This book takes a life course perspective, analysing and comparing the biographies of mothers and fathers in seven European countries in context.

Understanding Family Meanings provides an overview of the basic concepts and theories related to families using readings with questions and analysis to encourage reflection and learning. It focuses on family meanings as the key underpinnings for academic study and professional training.

Offering insight into the key debates on services for young children, this book tells how Sure Start was set up, the numerous changes it went through, and how it has changed the landscape of services for all young children in England.

An exciting and timely book documenting the transition to motherhood over generations and time.

This book examines fathers' perceptions of their domestic violence and its impact on children, their relationships with children and their parenting practices. It is the first UK book to specifically focus on violent fathering, discussing original research in the context of domestic violence and emerging practice literature to address this problem.

This book describes the local and national politics, professional concerns and public interest that surrounded the inquiry following the death of Maria Colwell in 1973.

Child welfare, state welfare and parenting issues are high on the UK policy agenda; this timely book examines recent policy developments, parental perspectives about parenting and child-rearing and parental rights to 'welfare state support'.

Combining social, psychological and child development aspects, this book provides a holistic view of how children develop agency.

This book examines who is likely to have a baby as a teenager, the consequences of early motherhood and how teenage pregnancy is dealt with in the media. The author argues that society's negative attitude to young mothers marginalises an already excluded group and that efforts should be focused on support.

The politics of parental leave policies addresses how and why, and by whom, particular policies are created and subsequently developed in particular countries. It examines the factors that bring about variations in leave policy, covering fifteen countries in Europe and beyond.

Based upon cross-national case studies of public and private sector workplaces, "Work, families and organisations in transition" illustrates how workplace practices and policies impact on employees' experiences of "work-life balance" in contemporary shifting contexts.

This book explores diversity and complexity in fathering through psychoanalysis, sociology and psychology and analyses contemporary developments in social policies and welfare practices. Using a feminist perspective, it highlights the opportunities and dangers in contemporary developments for those wishing to advance gender equity.