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Topic description and stories

Jan Steen, Mother and Child (17th-century painting). Image courtesy of York Museums Trust

Early foster care gave poor women power, 17th-century records reveal

03 Oct 2024

A rare collection of 300-year-old petitions gives voice to the forgotten women who cared for England’s most vulnerable children while battling their...

BaYaka camp in Congo. Image courtesy of Nikhil Chaudhary

Hunter-gatherer childhoods may offer clues to improving education and wellbeing

07 Mar 2023

Hunter-gatherers can help us understand the conditions that children may be psychologically adapted to because we lived as hunter-gatherers for 95%...

Family court decisions distorted by misuse of key research, say experts

12 Jan 2021

Family courts are misunderstanding and misusing research around how children form close relationships with their caregivers, say an international...

Prenatal parental stress linked to behaviour problems in toddlers

06 Aug 2019

Expectant parents’ emotional struggles predict emotional and behavioural problems in 2-year-olds, new research shows. The same study reveals, for the...

Gardeners and carpenters: the ‘skill’ of parenting

08 Nov 2018

Wanting your child to have the best chance in life is natural for any parent. But by focusing too much on the ‘skill’ of parenting, are we losing...

Credit: University of Cambridge Primary School

Spotlight on children

01 Nov 2018

Welcome to our new ‘ Spotlight on children ’, a focus on research taking place at the University of Cambridge relating to children and childhood –...

Burying beetles: could being a good father send you to an early grave?

22 Sep 2015

New research shows beetles that received no care as larvae were less effective at raising a large brood as parents. Males paired with ‘low quality’...

Cover image from Modern Families: Parents and Children in New Family Forms

Families with a difference: the reality behind the hype

12 Mar 2015

Families come in many guises. Some parents are same-sex; others are single by choice. Growing numbers of children are conceived through assistive...

I’ve got two dads – and they adopted me

04 Mar 2013

Research into adoptive families headed by same-sex couples paints a positive picture of relationships and wellbeing in these new families. The study...

Sibling rivalry and brotherly love

08 Apr 2011

Siblings, and even sibling rivalry, can have a positive effect on children’s early development and their ability to form social relationships later...

Mother knows best even before birth

10 Mar 2010

Mother birds communicate with their developing chicks before they even hatch by leaving them messages in the egg, new research by a team from the...

The importance of grandmothers in the lives of their grandchildren

29 Oct 2009

It is widely believed that women live long post-reproductive lives to help care for their grandchildren. Now research suggests that the pattern may...