Cool with Change: Young people and Family Change

By Gill Highet and Lynn Jamieson

Many children living in Scotland experience significant changes in their family circumstances in the course of their childhood. The most common such change is when parents decide to live apart; but a small proportion of children lose their parents because of death, or experience long-term absence of a parent for some other reason, or experience dramatic change as refugees or asylum seekers. This longitudinal research explores children's experiences of family change.

Most of the young people interviewed who had experienced these kinds of transitions in their families also had been affected by subsequent changes in their lives such as moving house and/or school, new family members and having to adopt a different kind of relationship with their parents as a result.

This study explores the effects of these changes and suggests ways in which young people may be supported during these challenging times.

For more information, go to http://www.crfr.ac.uk/Reports/CWC%20final%20report%202007.pdf

To order a copy of this research paper or the DVD made by young people with an accompanying booklet, please visit