What Family Circumstances, During COVID-19, Impact on Parental Mental Health in an Inner City Community in London?

The introduction of lockdown due to a public health emergency in March 2020 marked the beginning of substantial changes to daily life for all families with young children. Here we report the experience of families from London Borough of Tower Hamlets with high rates of poverty and ethnic and linguistic diversity. This inner city community, like communities worldwide, has experienced a reduction or closure in access to education, support services, and in some cases, a change in or loss of income, job, and food security. Using quantitative survey items (N = 992), we examined what differences in family circumstances, for mothers and fathers of young children aged 0-5 living in Tower Hamlets, during March 2020 to November 2020, were associated with their mental health status. We measure parental mental health using symptoms of depression (self-report: Patient Health Questionnaire depression scale: PHQ-8), symptoms of anxiety levels (self-report: General Anxiety Disorder: GAD-7), and perceptions of direct loneliness. We find parental mental health difficulties are associated with low material assets (financial security, food security, and children having access to outside space), familial assets (parents time for themselves and parent status: lone vs. cohabiting), and community assets (receiving support from friends and family outside the household). South Asian parents and fathers across ethnicities were significantly more likely to experience mental health difficulties, once all other predictors were accounted for. These contributing factors should be considered for future pandemics, where restrictions on people's lives are put in place, and speak to the importance of reducing financial insecurity and food insecurity as a means of improving the mental health of parents.

Falling off the ladder: Using focal theory to understand and improve the educational experiences of young people in transition from public care.

Coleman's focal theory, developed in relation to adolescents in the general population, appears to offer some explanation for the poor educational achievement and social exclusion of care leavers, but has been little tested empirically. This paper revisits data from two studies of care-experienced young people aged 18-25, drawing on qualitative interviews in the UK and four other European countries, to see if focal theory would have helped to predict their educational progression or otherwise. The lives of research participants were found to be characterised by disruptions and uncertainty, with multiple challenges confronting them in quick succession, making it hard for them to pace their transitions as, according to focal theory, other young people do. Findings suggest that the theory could be used to inform policy designed to improve educational outcomes and should be incorporated into training for those responsible for supporting care leavers through their transition to adulthood.

Understanding fathering in Britain today.

This research set out to investigate the parenting beliefs and practices of modern day fathers living in Britain today. The aim was to gain a better understanding of what 'being a father' means to parents and to what extent can there be said to be a 'common model' of fatherhood across Britain. Findings show that whilst fathers and mothers acknowledge the expectation of fathers to become more involved in childcare duties, many parents tend to hold more traditional views when it comes to the division of the childcare vs breadwinner responsibilities. Attitudes to fathering and actual fathering behaviours have been shown by our study to be influenced by a complex web of factors, with socio and economic life circumstances exerting the greatest influence on greater paternal involvement. The study found that there are far more similarities in the behaviours of fathers and their attitudes to fathering than there are differences. In the context of modern day Britain, fathers are facing similar challenges in their role as parents, giving rise to a common model of fathering within which fathers are facing similar challenges in achieving their ideal fathering role.