Social Sustainability under Uncertainty: The Reinvention of Families
A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Psychology of Sustainability and Sustainable Development".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2022) | Viewed by 12650
Special Issue Editors
Interests: family evaluation and family intervention; family life cycle/family stress, coping and quality of life; family and health/illness relation; family and addictive behaviors—family and gambling; family and ICTs (information and communication technologies); study of therapeutic process in family therapy (family/therapist co-construction dimension-outcomes and process of change); involuntary clients and family therapy
Interests: family rituals and routines; chronic health conditions; attachment; sense of belonging across life contexts
Interests: parent–child communication; emerging adulthood (e.g., information and communication technologies; dating violence; cyberabuse; academic performance); marital relationships (e.g., marital satisfaction during COVID-19; domestic violence)
Interests: process and outcomes in family therapy; therapeutic alliance with involuntary clients; family assessment measures; family and ICTs addictive behaviors; disruptive events in family life and resilience processes (e.g., chronic illnesses; natural disasters; migration)
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Families are at the core of communities. Against a background of rapid changes, these universal social units have changed to become more fluid, more affect-based and more inclusive; looking back at the last 100 years, families have remained relevant throughout. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of household members and social bubbles; we found the powerful value and strength of families, but also their vulnerabilities and their need to articulate with wider systems—no family is an island. Away from extended family, friends and everyday social contacts, family members became confined. The care of children and the vulnerable became an unshared burden, mourning and festive rituals were missed and the family calendar became empty without the colors of social events to look forward to.
Our near future as humans is not short of sustainability challenges. Tackling limited environmental resources in the context of an economic crisis when international relations are fragile will need a reinvention of our human systems, starting with the family. Relationships will be key once again as an announced unprecedented mental health crisis will need to be attended to. In these adverse times, families will need to be looked at in two ways. One is to assess the consequences of the recent changes for individuals, couples and families—the impact level. The other is to assess how families can be potential drivers towards the creation of adaptative, harmonious and sustainable communities—the resources and resilience level. How can these natural, historic, and still affectively significant systems be strengthened and used as development foundations? Research answering this question will be welcomed in our Special Issue on families’ roles for sustainability in times of uncertainty.
Dr. Ana Paula Relvas
Dr. Carla Crespo
Dr. Alda Portugal
Dr. Luciana Sotero
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- family
- uncertainty
- crisis resilience
- environment
- social, cultural, and economic sustainability
- mental health
- systems and networks
- pandemic
