Stories of Sameness and Difference: The Views and Experiences of Children and Adolescents with a trans* Parent

Scholarly attention has recently been given to the ways in which gender and parenting identities intersect, yet little is known about how children and adolescents with a trans* parent experience family life and relationships. This article reports data from a qualitative study in the UK based on interviews with 29 children and adolescents aged 5–18, all of whom have at least one parent who is trans*. Drawing upon theories of symbolic interactionism, the study investigated children and adolescents’ meaning-making and experiences of family life and relationships in the context of their parent’s gender identity. Data were analyzed using a theoretically informed thematic approach, which resulted in the identification of four main themes. Overall, findings suggest that parental gender identity does not adversely impact upon how children and adolescents perceive their relationship with their parent, but may be otherwise relevant to their experiences both within and outside of the home. Findings are discussed in relation to theories of family display (Finch, 2007) and discourse dependence (Galvin, 2006), suggesting that combining and extending these perspectives might be useful for understanding the perspectives of children and adolescents in different contexts of family diversity

Children with Trans Parents: Parent–Child Relationship Quality and Psychological Well-being

Objective: Families with trans parents are an increasingly visible family form, yet little is known about parenting and child outcomes in these families. This exploratory study offers the first quantitative assessment of parent–child relationship quality and child socio-emotional and behavioral adjustment in families with a self-identified trans parent with school-aged children. Design. A sample of 35 families (37 trans parents, 13 partners, and 25 children aged 8–18 years) was recruited primarily through social media. Parents, children, and teachers were administered a range of standardized interview and questionnaire assessments of parent–child relationship quality, quality of parenting, psychological adjustment, and gender-related minority stress. Results. Parents and children had good quality relationships, as assessed by both parents and children, and children showed good psychological adjustment. Child age at the time the parent communicated their gender identity to the child was unrelated to child outcomes. Conclusions. Parents and children in trans parent families had good quality relationships and children showed good psychological adjustment. The findings of this exploratory study challenge commonly held concerns about the potentially negative effects on children of growing up with a trans parent

Implementation of horizontal well CBM/ECBM technology and the assessment of effective CO2 storage capacity in a Scottish coalfield

Acknowledgements The authors wish to thank Composite Energy Ltd., the BG Group, Scottish Power and the Royal Bank of Scotland for their funding and contributions towards the research reported in this paper.Non peer reviewedPublisher PD

The spatial experiences of dwarfs in public spaces

Dwarfism is commonly defined as anyone 4ft 10″ (147.32 cm) or below and whose short stature involves a medical condition [Adelson, M. B. 2005. The Lives of Dwarfs, xv. NJ: Rutgers University Press]. Whilst it recognized that the built environment is unsuitable for dwarfs [see Kruse, R. 2002. “Social Spaces of Little People: The Experiences of the Jamisons.” Social and Cultural Geography 3 (2): 175–191, Kruse, R. 2010. “Placing Little People: Dwarfism and Geographies of Everyday Life.” In Towards Enabling Geographies, edited by V. Chouinard, E. Hall, and R. Wilton, 183–198. Surrey: Ashgate; Shakespeare, T., M. Wright, and S. Thompson. 2007. A Small Matter of Equality: Living with Restricted Growth. Newcastle: Newcastle University], this paper critically examines how spaces and facilities designed with other users in mind, including disabled people and children, can have unintended consequences for dwarfs. The data used in this paper are taken from semi-structured interviews and photo elicitation exercises conducted with 22 dwarfs living in the UK. Overall this paper shows the spatial experiences of dwarfs, which are a result of the unintended consequences of disabled child spaces and facilities, and suggests how Universal Design may be a more appropriate design concept

The ART of performance: engaging young people with assisted reproductive technologies

More children than ever before are conceived with the use of assisted reproductive technologies and many are raised in families that are structurally different from most. Research on the experiences of children growing up in diverse families has shown that children may face disapproval, a lack of understanding, and in some cases, bullying by those outside of their home environment, including from their peers at school This study evaluated the use of theatrical performance and post-performance discussions as a method of informing young people about different families. Findings indicated that performance was an effective and engaging learning tool, as it presented first-hand experiences of family diversity. Post-performance discussions were important in enabling young people to improve their understanding of different methods of Assisted Reproductive Technologies and diverse family forms. Young people were found to value engagement activities that are unbiased, interactive, and do not make them feel awkward or uncomfortable

A longitudinal study of families created using egg donation: family functioning at age 5

Findings are reported from phase two of a longitudinal study of family functioning in heterosexual-couple families with 5-year-olds conceived using identity-release egg donation. Seventy-two egg donation families were compared to 50 IVF families (ethnicity: 93% White British) using standardized observational, interview and questionnaire measures. There were no differences between family types in the quality of mother-child or father-child interaction, apart from lower structuring by fathers in egg donation families. Egg donation mothers and fathers reported higher levels of parenting stress and lower levels of confidence and competence than their IVF counterparts. Egg donation mothers reported lower social support and couple relationship quality, greater anger toward their child, and perceived their child as more angry and less happy, compared to IVF mothers. Egg donation fathers showed greater criticism and anger toward their child, less joy in parenting, and were less satisfied with the support they received, than IVF fathers. Children in egg donation families showed higher levels of externalizing problems than IVF children as rated by mothers, fathers, and teachers, whereas they were rated as having higher levels of internalizing problems by teachers only. Externalizing problems were predicted by mothers’ lower initial social support, steeper increases in parenting stress and greater concurrent criticism, whereas internalizing problems were associated with poorer initial couple relationship quality as rated by mothers. Both were predicted by fewer gains in reflective functioning. There was a moderation effect such that parenting stress was a stronger predictor of externalizing problems for egg donation than IVF families

Assessing the number of users who are excluded by domestic heating controls

This is the pre-print version of the Article. This Article is also referred to as: "Assessing the 'Design Exclusion' of Heating Controls at a Low-Cost, Low-Carbon Housing Development". - Copyright @ 2011 Taylor & FrancisSpace heating accounts for almost 60% of the energy delivered to housing which in turn accounts for nearly 27% of the total UK's carbon emissions. This study was conducted to investigate the influence of heating control design on the degree of ‘user exclusion’. This was calculated using the Design Exclusion Calculator, developed by the Engineering Design Centre at the University of Cambridge. To elucidate the capability requirements of the system, a detailed hierarchical task analysis was produced, due to the complexity of the overall task. The Exclusion Calculation found that the current design placed excessive demands upon the capabilities of at least 9.5% of the UK population over 16 years old, particularly in terms of ‘vision’, ‘thinking’ and ‘dexterity’ requirements. This increased to 20.7% for users over 60 years old. The method does not account for the level of numeracy and literacy and so the true exclusion may be higher. Usability testing was conducted to help validate the results which indicated that 66% of users at a low-carbon housing development could not programme their controls as desired. Therefore, more detailed analysis of the cognitive demands placed upon the users is required to understand where problems within the programming process occur. Further research focusing on this cognitive interaction will work towards a solution that may allow users to behave easily in a more sustainable manner