Study title

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The Timescapes project was the first major qualitative longitudinal study to be funded in the UK, and explored how personal and family relationships develop and change over time. The project researchers focused on relationships with significant others: parents, grandparents, siblings, children, partners, friends and lovers. They investigated how these relationships affected people's well-being and life chances, and considered the implications for the long term resourcing of families. Timescapes ran for five years from February 2007, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Further information can be found on the Timescapes website.


The overall aim of ‘Work and Family Lives: The Changing Experiences of ‘Young’ Families’ was to investigate processes of negotiation between parents and their primary-school-aged children concerning issues raised by working parenthood.

Specific objectives were:

• to understand how such issues impact on everyday family practices;
• to examine how these change over time in response to changes in work and family circumstances, including those in children's lives;
• to explore children’s perceptions and experiences of their parents’ work-life reconciliation.

Key findings to date on a range of topics include:

• views and experiences of 21st century working parenthood;
• weekday mornings: how parental employment affects the pace, timetables and rhythms of children’s lives;
• the negotiation of responsibility between parents and children;
• impacts of recession on working families;
• children’s employment futures;
• impacts of working parenthood on constructions of childhood

Main Topics:

Main topics included work, leisure, family, childcare and holidays.