339 Families, Relationships and Societies • vol 2 • no 3 • 339–54 • © Policy Press 2013 • #FRS Print ISSN 2046 7435 • Online ISSN 2046 7443 • http://dx.doi.org/10.1332/204674313X668569 Authenticity, work and change: a qualitative study on couple intimacy Luana Cunha Ferreira (luanacunhaferreira@gmail.com) Universites of Lisbon and Coimbra, Portugal Isabel Narciso (inarciso@fp.ul.pt) Rosa Novo (rfnovo@fp.ul.pt) University of Lisbon, Portugal Using the lenses of systemic family psychology and family sociology, this study explores the meanings of couple
which parents adjust their hours of paid work and the conflict they experience depends, among others, on the way that they organise their childcare. This study analyses the division of childcare in couples, taking its timing into account. So far, very few quantitative studies have analysed childcare from a couple perspective. Instead, most quantitative studies juxtaposed childcare in a sample of fathers with childcare in a sample of mothers ( Raley et al, 2012 ; Hook and Wolfe, 2013 ). The main exception is Craig and Mullan’s (2011) cross-national study of fathers
, and particularly on women. Mothers (more than fathers) are recognised as increasingly ‘torn’ by the competing expectations to parent intensively on the one hand, while participating in the labour market on the other ( Miller, 2005 ; Hays, 1996 ). More recent work has documented the experiences of men grappling with shifting ideals of a more intensive ‘involved’ fatherhood ( Dermott, 2008 ; Miller, 2011 ; Shirani et al, 2012 ). Focusing for the first time on couple relationships in the context of an intensified parenting culture, this article reports on a
Introduction Couple relationships are widely considered to be central to personal lives, with ‘the intimate sphere becoming the unquestioned non-place that anchors heteronormative public discourses’ ( Laurie and Stark, 2012 : 25) often being related to wellbeing, happiness and success. Ahmed ( 2010 : 53) highlights how the concepts of happiness and intimacy are intertwined within an ‘assumption that happiness follows relative proximity to a social ideal’. Couple relationships themselves are thus highly valued and the pressure to be in a ‘good relationship
developed by Becker (1981) and others, arguing instead for recognition of both common and individual interests of partners within the household ( Sen, 1997 ). This is particularly important for women, whose interests are often subsumed within the family ( Nussbaum, 2000 : 227). Thus, a unitary view of the household can also be ‘gender blind’. The article draws on gender analysis of ‘welfare reform’ (conducted in the UK by the Women’s Budget Group (WBG), among others), based in this tradition, to explore how couples are conceptualised and dealt with in Universal Credit
Introduction This article examines couple interactions around and negotiations of parental leave in qualitative interviews, in a bid to understand how some couples divide leave more equally than others. A more equal division of parental leave between men and women has the potential to transform gendered home and work practices ( Gornick and Meyers, 2009 ). Fathers’ uptake of leave is associated with higher levels of men’s involvement in childcare and housework (for example, Tanaka and Waldfogel, 2007 ; Schober, 2014 ) and higher participation of women in
Introduction In the UK, as in other Western contexts, married older 1 adults (aged over 65 years) are less likely than singles to enter long-term residential care 2 because partners often provide mutual care and support ( Thomeer et al, 2017 ). Rising life expectancy is enabling couple relationships to last much longer ( ONS, 2013 ). Yet for some, the increasing care and housing needs of one partner can result in involuntary separation and living apart through a care home move ( Glasier and Arbeau, 2019 ). Unlike Sweden, where couplehood is accommodated in
77 CHAPTER 6 REVIEW OF CONFLICT-BASED INTERVENTIONS FOR COUPLES The previous chapters have examined the links between inter-parental conflict and children’s adjustment. This evidence suggests that conflict between parents can have a negative impact on children’s social, emotional and behavioural development. Understanding more about what elements of conflict are important and the factors which put children at risk of experiencing harmful effects are useful in considering how best to minimise the impact of destructive conflict behaviours on children, as
Klinth, 2008 ). We argue that increased global public attention to parenting and parenthood has also directed the ways and cultural climates in which parenting practices are negotiated in contemporary families. These relational negotiations were explored in this study through couple interviews with Finnish parents. Drawing on Morgan’s (2011) concept of family practices and recent research on the multidimensional nature of contemporary parenting (for example, Doucet, 2006 ; Miller, 2017 ), we understand parenting practices as a combination of hands-on care work
intimate relationships. In our study, we define singles as persons without a permanent couple relationship, hence we also include divorcees, widow(er)s and lifelong singles. Yet, many European countries are characterised by individualisation in various spheres of life according to Beck and Beck-Gernsheim ( 2001 ), who define individualisation as the loosening of previously strict social forms such as class, social status, gender roles and family. The so-called normal biography ( Woodman, 2009 ), meaning traditions, beliefs and a church- and state-defined expected
