Growing Up Unequal: Family Complexity, Child Maltreatment and Child Well-Being

Dear Colleagues,

Families change constantly and contemporary family structures are more complex and diverse than those from a decade or even longer ago in any country. Family complexity refers to a variety of family structures (e.g., shared-custody families, same-sex families, families with nonresidential and co-residential partnerships, grandparent-headed families) and sibling compositions (e.g., half or stepsiblings). With rapid changes occurring in family structures globally, there is a pressing need for additional research to examine child maltreatment and/or child well-being within these complex structures. Developing a more in-depth knowledge base of child maltreatment and child well-being in diverse family structures would empower us to better integrate family complexity into the improvement of child well-being through services and policies. We invite you to submit manuscripts that address family complexity and child maltreatment/child well-being that also address the implications for practices and policies. We enthusiastically invite a variety of research from different countries and diverse populations, and welcome submissions employing various research methodologies, including qualitative, quantitative, mixed methods, and systematic/scoping reviews. By encompassing diverse approaches, we seek to gather a comprehensive array of perspectives on this important topic.

Dr. Yanfeng Xu
Dr. Merav Jedwab
Guest Editors

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