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Purpose To illuminate the meaning of social relationships and health concerns as experienced by adolescents and young people during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods A longitudinal qualitative study was conducted. Data reported from 172 adolescents and young people aged 12–24 years in five countries; Chile, South Africa, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States collected from May 2020 to June 2021 were analysed via thematic analysis. Results Adolescents and young peoples’ experiences of social relationships and health concerns were described in seven themes: Family proximity, conflicts and frustration; difficulties and challenges related to limited living space; peer relations and maintaining friendship in times of social distancing; the importance of school as a place for interaction; vulnerability, emotional distress and uncertainty about the future; health concerns and sense of caring for others; and worries and concerns related to financial hardship. These reports show that the changes to everyday life that were introduced by public responses to the pandemic generated feelings of loneliness, vulnerability, and emotional distress, as well as increased sense of togetherness with family. Conclusions The everyday lives of adolescents and young people were restricted and affected more by the consequences of the pandemic than by the COVID-19 virus. These experiences had various impacts on well-being and mental health, where some individuals felt more exposed and vulnerable to emotional distress and loneliness than others. Family and peer relationships could be protective and support a sense of togetherness and belonging. Hence, social relationships are important to provide emotional support. Support for adolescents and young people should be tailored accordingly around social and emotional concerns, to encourage health and well-being.

Vägarna till ensamstående föräldraskap är många, och de kan vara frivilliga eller ofrivilliga, omdebatterade eller okontroversiella. Livet som ensamstående förälder kan också vara präglat av ensamhet, eller inte alls ensamt. Enförälderfamiljer synliggör de många betydelser och nyanser, vanligheter och ovanligheter, värden och känslor som ryms i erfarenheter av att vara ensamstående förälder. Boken undersöker också skildringar av ensamstående föräldrars familjeliv i litteratur, film och andra medier, från banbrytande romaner på 1930-talet till komplexa filmberättelser och humoristiska seriealbum på 2000-talet. Kapitlen är skrivna av forskare, författare och journalister med olika perspektiv och utgångspunkter. Detta gör att boken som helhet ger en bred bild av hur det ensamstående föräldraskapet beskrivs, förstås och upplevs i olika sammanhang och situationer.

Since the 1960s, Swedish family policies have encouraged parents to share their parental obligations equally, and in the 1980s joint legal custody became standard after divorce or separation. Mothers as well as fathers are expected to financially provide for the family and to take part in the everyday care and fostering of the child. This study explores how single parenthood, non-residential parents and co-parenting play out and become conventionalized in daily news in this national context. The material consists of articles that mention single parenthood and “the other parent” from the four most widely read newspapers published in the period 2010–2019. The analytical focus has been on the written language and what is spelled out, alluded to or ignored, and dominant and less dominant representations. The results show that there are contrasting depictions of mothers and fathers. While the mother as a single parent, co-parent and non-residential parent overall is represented as good and attentive, the father is more of a split figure. He recurrently comes across as absent and negligent as the non-residential parent, but as committed and involved as the primary parent or co-parent with joint residential custody.

Since the 1960s, Swedish family policies have encouraged parents to share their parental obligations equally, and in the 1980s joint legal custody became standard after divorce or separation. Mothers as well as fathers are expected to financially provide for the family and to take part in the everyday care and fostering of the child. This study explores how single parenthood, non-residential parents and co-parenting play out and become conventionalized in daily news in this national context. The material consists of articles that mention single parenthood and “the other parent” from the four most widely read newspapers published in the period 2010–2019. The analytical focus has been on the written language and what is spelled out, alluded to or ignored, and dominant and less dominant representations. The results show that there are contrasting depictions of mothers and fathers. While the mother as a single parent, co-parent and non-residential parent overall is represented as good and attentive, the father is more of a split figure. He recurrently comes across as absent and negligent as the non-residential parent, but as committed and involved as the primary parent or co-parent with joint residential custody.

Lone mothers are a diverse group but it has been argued in the previous research that they tend to be homogenised. This article explores representations of single mothers in Swedish newspapers. Material from the two largest morning papers and the two largest tabloids was collected from the years 2015–2017. The results of the study suggest that although the newspaper representations do not fully reflect the diversity of social realities, there are indeed varying images of lone mothers in the sample. A recurring representation is as a comparatively poor and hardworking—even heroic—woman, who in political argumentation is referred to as someone in need of societal support and policy reforms. A less frequent representation, that often occurs in lengthy, in-depth pieces, is the affluent official person who despite her prosperity struggles with combining single (good) motherhood with her career, or the middle-class woman who becomes a lone mother via assisted reproductive technologies. Teenage motherhood (i.e., age), race/ethnicity, sexuality, and welfare dependence are seldom, if at all, alluded to. There is no vilification or condemnation of the lone mother, as has been found in research on other national contexts.

This edited volume addresses how single mothers and fathers are represented in novels, self-help literature, daily newspapers, film and television, as well as within their own narratives in interviews on social media. With proportions varying between countries, the number of single parents has been increasing steadily since the 1970s in the Western world. Contributions to this volume analyse how various societies respond to these parents and family forms. Through a range of materials. methodologies and national perspectives, chapters make up three sections to cover single mothers, single fathers and solo mothers (single mothers who became parents through assisted reproductive technologies). The authors reveal that single parenthood is divided along the lines of gender and socioeceonomic status, with age, sexuality and the reason for being a single parent coming into play.

This article explores refugee girls’ talk about friendship formation. Friendship is a complex process and a subjective experience. The study participants stressed similarity and cultural affinity as important criteria of forming friendships. Those who attended schools with a mixture of students described their native peers as having different temperaments and interests. Relatives were referred to as being best friends who one could trust and confide in. This suggests the need for a broad conceptualisation of friendship in research and practice.

Denna artikel diskuterar hur begreppen barnperspektiv och barns perspektiv definieras i nord- isk forskning, och hur barns aktörskap framkommer i dessa texter. Tillämpningen av närliggande begrepp, som barns röster, inflytande och kompetens, belyses också. Artikelns utgångspunkt är att barnet föds som aktör: Barn, liksom vuxna, påverkar ständigt andra, direkt genom sina handlingar och indirekt som kroppar som befinner sig i andras närvaro eller tanke. Barn, liksom vuxna, är kompetenta och handlingskraftiga likaväl som sårbara och beroende av sina relationer. Artikeln lyfter fram vikten av att studera barns påverkan på vuxna och samhället som ett betydelsefullt kun- skapstillskott. Den visar att forskningstexter som definierar begreppen barnperspektiv och barns perspektiv ofta positionerar barn som passiva, och som helt beroende av vuxenvärldens tolkningar och förståelse. Barns aktörskap belyses i mindre grad. Artikeln ger förslaget att barns aktörskap analyseras som två delar: barns inflytande och barns påverkan. Barns inflytande används för att undersöka barns reella inflytande på beslut och handlingar i sociala situationer, och barns påverkan för att studera barns direkta och indirekta påverkan på andra och den värld som omger dem.

A new, revised curriculum for the Swedish preschool came into effect in July 2019. According to the National Agency of Education, it differs from its predecessor by putting a greater emphasis on care and teaching. This paper studies how the child is conceptualized in relation to learning and care in the new curriculum. Informed by a posthumanist approach and childhood studies, it scrutinizes how the child is positioned as a being and/or becoming child, an entangled and/or separate child, and, an active and/or passive child. Furthermore, it explores how the child appears in relation to human and non-human agents. The dominant, recurring conceptualization of the child is the child as becoming and passive. Learning and caring processes mainly come across as unidirectional -from adult to child –and future orientated. Although the preschool child is connected to a social context, the child predominantly appears as separate from others rather than entangled

Purpose: This paper examines intergenerational, interdependent and contextual aspects of wellbeing and acculturative stress in refugee families during resettlement. Particular focus is placed on how children influence their parents. Method: The study is based on interviews with and diary notes from Middle Eastern parents and children residing in Sweden. Results: Analyzes of the narratives show how the direct and indirect influence of the child affects the parents in both negative and positive ways. Acculturative stress follows from unexpected and undesired migration outcomes, such as parent–child conflicts and low school achievement. Such strains add to other hardships refugee families face, for instance, unemployment, welfare dependence, poor housing, and insufficient mastery of the majority language. However, acculturative stress can be alleviated by the children’s educational success, and reciprocal practices of love and caring including helping out with chores and supporting each other in different ways. Conclusions: Children's agency has significant effects on parents’ wellbeing, as wellbeing is accomplished in and through relationships with others.

This study explores adolescent reasoning behind the use of alcohol at different types of parties, often house parties, and about the strategies to achieve maturity and prevent losing control. The data consist of semi-structured interviews with 23 adolescents aged 16–18 years (16 males and seven females). The interview transcripts were analysed using an inductive, thematic approach. All informants had personal experience with drinking at parties in different social settings. Our results suggest that the process of learning how to drink, often through failure in terms of being intoxicated, is important for adolescents’ who strive to control their alcohol intake resulted in a good time and a break from everyday life. Furthermore, the results indicate that different social settings and party types engender different drinking patterns. Maturity and controlled conduct come across as desired ideals that provide a person with symbolic capital and thus, social status.