Guest Editors: Ana Paula Relvas & Carla Crespo

Submissions due: January 15, 2023

Contemporary families are living in a context of unprecedented adversity at a global scale. In a short time span, a cascade of world events (e.g., the COVID-19 pandemic, war in Ukraine) reshaped our common reality. The sense of vulnerability of living in an unpredictable world and the collective experience of prolonged stress affected every level of our systemic environment as human beings. We are being reminded, like in other adverse times in history, of how central families are to human functioning: they can be the source of vulnerability and also the source of one’s greatest resources and strengths.

This special issue aims at gathering international family scholars to reflect on our theoretical compasses for understanding and supporting families in these unpredictable and polarizing times. The call honors two key aspects of family life. First, we would like to acknowledge the paradoxical position of families as contexts suffering a significant impact from the ongoing global adversity, as well as contexts where group and individual resilience is forged. Secondly, we would like to pay tribute to the contextual circumstances in which families are embedded. Albeit a global phenomenon, current events have different impacts in specific areas of the world. We call for a discussion of contemporary families against the background of their cultural/social/national contexts to gain a diverse international picture of these systems in times of adversity. Submissions that center underrepresented global perspectives are especially encouraged. 

Examples of key questions guiding the special issue are:

• How can family theories help in framing the new realities being created in the 21st century?
• What new theoretical perspectives ought to emerge in order to address the impact of the pandemic for families in specific cultural/social/national contexts?
• What theoretical bridges can be useful to understand the bending or breaking of families under macro-systemic adversity?
• How can general, mid-range, and specific family theories be useful for understanding and working with contemporary families across different contexts?

Manuscripts are due by January 15, 2023, and the special issue will be published in December 2023. Manuscripts must be submitted via the Manuscript Central submission portal at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jftr. Be sure to note that the submission is for this special issue. Manuscripts should not exceed 35 double-spaced typed pages of text. For detailed manuscript preparation guidelines, please refer to http://www.ncfr.org/jftr/submit-jftr.

For more information or questions or to discuss submission ideas, please contact the special issue editors: Ana Paula Relvas ([email protected]) or Carla Crespo ([email protected])