ePrints

Blurred borders. Negotiating copresence in the family home through spatio-temporal strategies for increased adult well-being

Lookup NU author(s): Professor Rosie ParnellORCiD, Dr Husam Abo Kanon, Dr Alkistis Pitsikali

Downloads

• Published version [.pdf]

Licence

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

Abstract

Borders between the domestic domains of work, family and restoration, are essential to adult well-being. This article interrogates the blurring of these borders by post-pandemic, reshaped relations between adults and children in domestic space. Adult spaces can alleviate the negative well-being effects of blurred borders, but inadequate consideration of intrafamilial separation in contemporary housing forces parents to negotiate adult-child copresence, or ’presence to one another.’ Drawing on time-geography, this article explores adult spaces of avoidance in the family home to negotiate negative copresence and maintain domestic borders. Qualitative analysis of 45 in-depth interviews shows adults in England and Scotland (UK) enacting spatio-temporal tactics -appropriation, exclusion, exile and containment- to negotiate negatively perceived copresence and alleviate its detrimental well-being impacts. Understood as a key component of togetherness, the article demonstrates the relationship between copresence and the physical space of the house, highlighting implications of negatively perceived copresence for housing design.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Costa Santos S, Parnell R, Abo Kanon H, Pattinson E, Pitsikali A

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Home Cultures

Year: 2025

Volume: 21

Issue: 2-3

Pages: 159-183

Online publication date: 22/01/2025

Acceptance date: 10/01/2025

Date deposited: 10/01/2025

ISSN (print): 1740-6315

ISSN (electronic): 1751-7427

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/17406315.2025.2454179

DOI: 10.1080/17406315.2025.2454179

Data Access Statement: The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in data.ncl at 10.25405/data.ncl.20223534.

Altmetrics

Funding

Share