There is a growing pan-global commitment to improve the health and wellbeing of children in disadvantaged communities. This research series focusses on exploring the physical and social environment in which Indian children are growing up, the effects on their wellbeing and aspirations, and families’ sense of agency to impact on their current living conditions, quality of life and the future of their children. This series involves three independent but interconnected studies conducted as a part of formative research to develop an intergenerational intervention for addressing environmental risks: 1) a qualitative stakeholder engagement study in rural communities in India exploring impoverishment related factors that impact parenting practices; 2) a qualitative study using in-depth interviews with parents and children in rural and urban settings to explore the ways families make changes within their homes and in their immediate environment to promote wellbeing to develop a model of familial agency based on Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory of Agency; 3) development and validation of a bipartite familial agency scale based on the new model by conducting surveys in Hindi and English with parent child dyads from diverse socioeconomic settings in India. 

Project members

Saumya Singh, Associate Professor Karen Turner & Professor Peta Ashworth (School of Chemical Engineering)

Associate Professor Karen Turner

Deputy Director
Parenting and Family Support Centre
Principal Research Fellow
School of Psychology