Editorial introduction

Abstract

We are very proud at the Journal of Family Studies to announce that this is now a quarterly journal publication., with four issues per year. This is a significant development for the Journal of Family Studies and reflects growing international interest from contributing authors and readers. This issue illustrates the ongoing resilience of families, ongoing family change and the widening diversity of family types and household arrangements. Nonetheless, the resilience and ongoing diversity of families is seen to be tested by new issues and challenges from globalization, modern patterns of parenting, employment and consumption. The first paper in this issue, by Jesper Andreasson and Thomas Johansson, illustrates how the desires of post-divorce fathers to live up to the contemporary ideal of the ‘new emotionally involved father’ are mediated structurally by social policies, including childcare policies, and by Swedish family and gender politics. The second paper by Jane Hayley McKenzie, Claire McHugh, and Fiona McKay examines changes in social welfare policies for single-parent families in Australia from the Parenting Single Payment (PSP) to the more employment activation orientated ‘Newstart Allowance’, which is seen to worsen the already precarious financial positions of families. These papers reflect a particular interest of the Journal of Family Studies in studies that combine a focus on families with a focus on family policy or social policy including employment policy. The third paper in this issue by Stephen Brown et al examines the role of family meals in building Parent-Child Connectedness (PCC) from the perspective of adolescents in families thereby contributing to a a growing body of work on child-centred view of family studies. Alternatively, the fourth paper by Elena Faccio et al examines conceptualisations of power in the health-care relationships of young people and the attendant psychological distress and stigma suffered by adult women coping with the emerging problem of obesity. The remaining three papers focus on family issues and challenges; for retired women in India, never-married women Israel and parenting styles of married and co-habiting couples in Germany. These papers and this issue illustrate the international scope of the Journal of Family Studies. Going forward, we are particularly interested in receiving papers on family sociology, gender relations, children’s perspectives and family policy or work-life balance policy.