Family Relationships in Middle Childhood

Joanne Coldwell, Alison Pike, Judy Dunn

• Publisher: National Children's Bureau
• Year: 2006
• Print ISBN: 9781904787860
• eBook ISBN: 9781907969737
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Developmental Psychology
• Index: Psychology

Family Relationships in Middle Childhood presents a study of family life among parents and children during 'middle childhood'.

Combining the perspectives of parents and young children aged 4-8 in each family, this book is based on a study which explores how family members get on together, the factors both within and outside of the home that affect family life, and the role of family relationships in children's developing well-being. Including both lone mother and two-parent households, the study provides comparisons between mothers and fathers, as well as between mothers in different family types. It finds that young children can provide meaningful accounts of family life and have a role to play in decisions that affect their life at home; relationships between family members, rather than the structure of families, define the quality of family life; links between children's social competence; and the sibling relationship suggest that brothers and sisters have the potential to 'teach' each other socially appropriate behaviour.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Tables and figures
• Acknowledgements
• Executive summary
• Introduction
• 1. Method in brief
• 2. Unravelling children’s perceptions of relationships in the family
• 3. Getting on
• 4. Personal characteristics and family relationships
• 5. Family context and family relationships
• 6. Family relationships and children’s well-being
• 7. Lone-mother families
• 8. Conclusions and implications
• References
• Appendices
• Index