The trajectory of a human’s life course is by no means determined at birth. Nevertheless, the circumstances a child is born into and events taking place during the early childhood, or even gestation, shape life-course trajectories. A substantial amount of research in the Dynamics of Inequality Across the Life-course (DIAL) research programme has examined what … Read more
Addressing inequalities early in life
Deepening our understanding on the ways in which social origins shape our lives
Family background influences our lives in multiple ways: from genes to work-life connections, the role that parents can play in their children’s lives is almost ubiquitous. Yet these relationships are far from deterministic. Institutional contexts shape the strength and manner in which the influences take place. Even the way that genes shape our lives depends … Read more
Policy agenda around social inequalities across the life-course
The policy agenda around social inequality is multifaceted and its relevance only heightened following global crises such as the Great Recession and more recently the Covid-19 pandemic. The Dynamics of Inequality Across the Life-course: structures and processes (DIAL) research programme was designed with this policy agenda in mind – and it has also responded to … Read more
Parenting Behaviours and Early Child Development in Europe
Social inequality related to children’s development starts early in life. Parenting behaviour as an explanatory factor has important effects on very young children’s verbal and behavior social skills, and on later school achievements.
The association between mother’s education level and early child language skills; findings from three European cohort studies
The development of language skills during the early years of a child’s life are vital for school readiness, educational attainment, and later life outcomes. The socio-economic background of parents, as measured by occupation, income, and level of education, have been found to significantly affect child language skills and the differences we see between children.
The Pros and Cons of Combining Birth Cohort Data
This short SEED working paper is designed to highlight the value of and the pitfalls in combining and comparing data across large scale representative population cohorts. It was carried out as part of the Norface DIAL initiative by the SEED project (Social InEquality and its Effects on child Development: A study of birth cohorts in the UK, … Read more
Father’s occupation, children’s vocabulary, and whether changing occupation creates social mobility in the UK
In the UK the issue of social mobility, the link between a person’s life outcomes and that of their parents, has been of concern since the 1970s. Despite many interventions and policy initiatives this link has become “entrenched” with those who are born into low-income families taking on average 5 generations to reach the mean … Read more
UK Legislative Lives: Illustrating Intersectional LGBTQI+ Lifecourse (In)equalities
In attempting to convey some of the LGBTQI+ lives made possible and rendered impossible over time it is easy to fall into a simple narration of progress; that things are ‘getting better’, that younger generations are less homophobic and transphobic, and that queer lives have come out from underground, uplifted by legislation. Samia Singh designed … Read more
1st LGBTQI+ Lives Scotland Advisory Group Meeting: Process and practice of ‘doing’ intersectionality
The LGBTQI+ Lives Scotland Research Advisory Group held their first meeting in January 2019. You can now read all about the meeting in the CILIA-LGBTQI+ blog post written by Yvette Taylor and Matson Lawrence.
LGBTQI+ In/Exclusions: History Month, intersections, and research design
Matson Lawrence and Yvette Taylor reflect upon the events they participated in, as connected to the LGBTQI+ Lives Scotland project, and their plans for upcoming fieldwork in their CILIA-LGBTQI+ blog post. To read more click here.