Financial trajectories: how parents and children discussed the impact of the recession

Abstract

This paper presents findings from a qualitative longitudinal study which investigated processes of negotiation between parents and their primary school-aged children in addressing issues raised by working parenthood. Three waves of fieldwork were conducted with 14 families living in Scotland under differing socio-economic and labour market conditions. Individual interviews were conducted with parents and children at waves 1 and 3, while wave 2 entailed family interviews. Experiences of unfolding conditions of economic uncertainty and recession were explored with a focus on how families were making sense of these changes in terms of their personal projects, aims and challenges. The data revealed three types of recession experience and showed how, within each, notions of economising or adapting to changing economic circumstances were articulated and incorporated into everyday family practices to differing extents. The findings also demonstrate the importance of understanding families’ reactions to the recession against the backdrop of their financial histories and anticipated futures.

Notes

Families in the ‘Work and Family Lives’ study were asked to state their total annual household income from all sources before tax. These levels of income were compared with the average (median) family income levels gathered by the DWP ‘Families and Children’ study, which is a measure of total (disposable) family income and deducts taxes, national insurance, pension contributions, and council tax.

Due to the timing of their recruitment, it was not possible to conduct all three waves of data collection with two families, resulting in only 12 of the 14 families taking part in family interviews. As the recession was not explicitly discussed in one of the family interviews, this paper is based on data from the remaining 11 family interviews.