Browsing by Author "Berman, Rakel"

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Barns röster om växelvis boende. Vardagsliv, familjepraktiker och nära relationer
(2019-09-25) Berman, Rakel
Over the past decades, the ways in which children’s care is arranged after parental separation have changed significantly in many societies. Dual residence, where children live across two households spending equal amounts of time with each parent, is particularly common in Sweden. Despite the dramatic increase in dual residence in Sweden, knowledge from children’s point of view is limited. This thesis aims, through children’s perspectives, to provide knowledge about everyday life when lived across two households, with a special focus on family practices, influence and personal relationships. The thesis draws on qualitative interviews with children and teenagers, whose stories, descriptions and reflections have been analysed using thematic analysis. Both theoretically and methodologically, the basis of this thesis is the sociology of childhood, in which the active and reflective roles of children are accentuated. This perspective guides the analysis, highlighting the ways in which children participate in, and influence, decisions regarding how their dual-residence arrangements are put into practice. Family life is understood as a process of doing, and the concept of family practices is adopted to shed light on the particular practices that constitute everyday life for children in dual residence arrangements. The thesis includes four articles, each of which illuminates a separate theme. Article I, II and III are empirical articles highlighting different aspects of everyday life in the context of dual residence, and the fourth article is a literature review. Article I focuses on dual residence as a mobility practice, emphasizing the practical, emotional and relational transitions involved when children live in and move between two homes. Participants’ reflections about relationships with parents are discussed in Article II. Article III focuses on children’s influence over their residence arrangements and practices therein. Article IV investigates the meta-data of the research on dual residence (when, where, who, and how) and their purposes and study findings (what). In summary, findings illuminate the nuances and the everyday complexities of living in two homes. Routinely managing practical and emotional transitions requires effort, even if they become an ordinary part of life to which many children become acclimatised. These transitions may also lead children to reflect about family relationships and think more explicitly about what they mean to them. Taken together, the thesis demonstrates that dual residence involves both positive and negative aspects where children’s experiences differ and change over time. In the final part of the thesis, key elements that influence children’s well-being and the way they feel about practising dual residence are discussed. Children’s relationships lie at the centre of dual-residence family life and they play a crucial role in the way dual residence is experienced. By focusing children’s perspectives, this thesis sheds light on how dual residence can be understood, it highlights the significance of listening to children and considering their views regarding issues that affect their lives.
Varannan-vecka-liv En studie om växelvis boende och barns familjeskapande
(2010-10-13) Berman, Rakel; Göteborg University/Department of Social Work; Göteborgs universitet/Institutionen för socialt arbete
Title: Every second week. A study on how co-parented children do family. The aim of the study is to explore children’s day-to-day experiences of co-parenting. It focuses on how the children actively participate in the process of shaping family life and their own childhoods in the context of family change. The study addresses the following questions: • What characterizes co-parented childhood? • What are the children’s day-to-day experiences of co-parenting? How are they doing family? • How do the children talk about their family and family life? The study is based on a qualitative method and consists of semi-structured interviews with eight co-parented children aged nine to thirteen. The starting point is the view of children as social actors and hence involved in interactions, negotiations and the construction of their social worlds. Thus the theoretical framework is based on the sociology of childhood, as well as the theoretical concepts of doing family, family practices and negotiation. These children’s experiences take place in the context of late modern society where family life is being transformed by changes in family structures, due to for example high rates of divorce. After the parental separation the children have to find new ways of living, sharing their time between their two parents on a 50-50 basis. Co-parenting is one among several models of post-divorce family life, and is an arrangement increasing rapidly in Sweden. Since it is a rather new model, no templates exist of what it should be like. Accordingly, these children are engaged in shaping –and displaying- new ways of doing family and creating new kinds of family relationships. The children conceptualize family in terms of relationships rather than blood ties or legal ties. Furthermore, in their view a family is based on practices and a common home (or in this case, one with each parent). According to these children, what is most important is the quality of the relationships. In line with this argument, what matters to them is being able to keep a close relationship with both their parents, which they stress is only possible as long as they share an everyday life. Despite the fact that the children themselves construct families based on ties of love and affection, most of them with open boundaries, they still voice the concept of the nuclear family when it comes to spontaneous reactions or describing their possible future family. Thus there are large contrasts between the open family boundaries of their own families and the nuclear family norm, which after all is present in their narratives. This indicates a complex relationship between personal views and underlying norms. One conclusion is that these children are pioneers as they are in the process of constructing new ways of doing family; co-parented family.