Special Issue "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: 28 February 2022.

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Ana Paula Relvas
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences & Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, 3000-115 Coimbra, Portugal
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
Dr. Carla Crespo
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Psychology & CICPSI, University of Lisbon, 1649-013 Lisbon, Portugal
Interests: family rituals and routines; chronic health conditions; attachment; sense of belonging across life contexts
Dr. Alda Portugal
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Psychology, University of Madeira, 9000-082 Funchal, Portugal; Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, 3000-104 Coimbra, Portugal
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)
Dr. Luciana Sotero
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences & Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, 3000-115 Coimbra, Portugal
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

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • family
  • uncertainty
  • crisis resilience
  • environment
  • social, cultural, and economic sustainability
  • mental health
  • systems and networks
  • pandemic

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

Article
Microcredit Impact on Socio-Economic Development and Women Empowerment in Low-Income Countries: Evidence from Yemen
Sustainability 2021, 13(16), 9326; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13169326 - 19 Aug 2021
Viewed by 370
Abstract
Microcredit financing is extensively considered as an effective development method for poverty mitigation and women empowerment. Nevertheless, relevant studies reflected opposing outcomes on microfinance effects consisting of positive, zero, and negative impacts. Thus, this research investigated Al-Amal Bank’s microcredit impacts on women empowerment [...] Read more.
Microcredit financing is extensively considered as an effective development method for poverty mitigation and women empowerment. Nevertheless, relevant studies reflected opposing outcomes on microfinance effects consisting of positive, zero, and negative impacts. Thus, this research investigated Al-Amal Bank’s microcredit impacts on women empowerment in Yemen, one of the poorest Middle Eastern nations. A panel dataset and primary and secondary data were gathered through household surveys and propensity score matching to restrict intangible variables’ possible effects. The empirical results revealed that microcredit had a significant positive effect on monthly household incomes and accumulated asset values. Although microcredit facilitated female entrepreneurship and income generation for improved household incomes and expenditure, no influence was found on female household decisions and mobility following the patriarchal system practised in many Arabian nations, including Yemen. Hence, the study finding has theoretically and practically contributed to the body of knowledge in three ways. First, a novel proof of how microcredit interactions affected several Yemeni women empowerment elements was identified. This study also provides new insight into the empowerment theory by explaining how access to microcredit influences numerous features of women’s economic and social empowerment. Lastly, social and family traditions significantly influenced female attributes and lifestyles by reflecting how communal and family rituals affected microcredit impacts on women empowerment and vice versa. Conversely, this study guides Yemeni policymakers and those from other nations on extending financial services for self-development to reduce poverty and drive women empowerment rather than relying on government and international agencies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Social Sustainability under Uncertainty: The Reinvention of Families)
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