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Lack of space or overcrowded conditions is viewed as one of the main indicators of disadvantage (Dorling et al., 2007) and seen as one of the pathways which influence poor health (Thomson et al., 2009, Gibson et al., 2011a, Gibson et al., 2011b). In terms of the current study, the lack of space was mainly discussed in terms of the difficulties of sharing bedroom space. Table 18 illustrates how many of the participants shared a bedroom:

Participants Housing type Share a bedroom

SIGHTHILL

Claire, Paul HRF Yes (with each other)

Shelly,

Christina HRF Yes (with each other and one other

younger sister)

No (but Shona and Nicola used to share in HRF)

Theo HRF No

Janet HRF No

Deena HRF Yes (with parents)

SHAWBRIDGE

Adam, Patrick HRF Yes (with each other)

Mark HRF No

Table 18: Participants that shared a bedroom

While sharing a bedroom is not of itself a sign of overcrowding in a home, the experiences of the participants’ appear to suggest an underlying problem of overcrowding. For example in Shawbridge, Adam and Patrick shared a bedroom while Adam’s older sister slept on the couch in the living room due to lack of space. Christina also discussed a lack of space:

Christina: It’s my ma, my da, the wean [a toddler], the wean [a baby] in the wan room, then its me, her [Shelly] and my wee sister in the other room but my wee brother gets his own room because he’s the only boy

[Christina, 12 years, Sighthill, w1, home interview]

Shelly and Christina’s mum and dad shared their bedroom with two children (one infant and one toddler), while they shared with each other and one sibling.

Interestingly, their younger brother gets his own room because he was the only boy in the family. His room was therefore used as a storage room for toys and clothes that could not be stored in other bedrooms. Again returning to Claire and

17 While Jenny and her family relocated from the HRF prior to wave one, the size of their new flat was still not adequate for their housing needs and therefore she and her sister remained sharing a bedroom

Paul, the damp conditions in their home meant they shared a bedroom while their older brother took the bedroom with the worst damp problem. As their brother often stayed at friends’ homes, he was able to manage the risk through avoidance. Two of the participants shared bedrooms with parents. In both cases, this was due to an unpredicted change of circumstances: Johnny was ‘thrown out’ of his mum’s home and moved in to his dad’s one bedroom home, and

Deena’s family invited a guest to stay for 12 months. This required Deena to give up her bedroom to enable the guest to sleep comfortably.

Common sleeping arrangements in the shared bedrooms included: bunk-beds (Patrick and Adam; Jenny and her sister) or single beds next to each other (Claire and Paul; Shelly, Christina and their sister). For the participants who shared with parents, the families negotiated the space in different ways: Deena slept in a bunk-bed above her parents’ double bed, and Johnny slept in the same bed as his dad.

Within the wider literature, the bedroom is discussed as one of the places within the home where young people can claim control, providing a sense of safety, security, and privacy, but also a place which is integral for the practice of

identity (Mcrobbie, 2000, Lincoln, 2004, Lincoln, 2013). Sharing this space means a decrease in control and privacy, and also a decreased ability to conduct their daily routines.

Participants described using different techniques to manage the lack of space, including marking out their own defendable territories within a shared space (James, 2001, Lincoln, 2013). This often involved displaying their interests on the walls of the bedroom. This appeared to be a gendered behaviour: the girls used photographs of their friends or pop bands; the boys used posters of football teams. While it was easy to display ownership of different areas of the room, differences in daily routines often led to arguments:

Claire: We can have the odd fight but nothing big. Just when he tries to be annoying at night and I’m trying to sleep…he'll just sit on the Playstation. And try I've to get sleep o’er him [the noise of playing games]

[Claire, 16 years, Sighthill, w1, home interview]

Paul: Right when I want the lamp on and I’m playing my Playstation, she always moans to go to sleep. So I need to sit in the dark, when I’m trying to see to play my Playstation.

[Paul, 14 years, Sighthill, w1, home interview]

The example above describes the same two activities (going to sleep and playing the Playstation) from two different points of view. In both interviews, they both think that they were slighted by the actions of the other sibling not respecting the boundaries and informal social rules of the bedroom. These informal social rules, governing acceptable behaviour at different times of the day, differ for Claire and Paul and reflect their individual routines. Their sense of normalcy in their bedroom routines was challenged by another conflicting routine invading the same area. For example, Claire’s need to go to sleep early conflicted with Paul’s need to relax and play computer games. Their routines also appeared to clash in the morning, as Claire described having to wake up earlier than her brother in order to get ready for school. She has to do this in another room, as there was no private place in her bedroom to get changed.

Nicola (Sighthill) also reflected on the arguments that she and her older sister Shona would have when they shared a room in the HRF:

Nicola: Sometimes at night, my big sister would- she’d be going somewhere the next day, and I could get up later for school, cause the school’s right next to me, then I’d want to watch the telly until half ten, but she’d watch it till ten and then I couldnae watch it.

[Nicola, 11 years, Sighthill, w1, home interview]

Similar to Claire and Paul, Nicola and Shona’s boundaries were social in nature.

While the change from watching television from half past ten to ten is only a 30 minute decrease, for Nicola it was a frustration and challenged what she wanted to do within her own bedroom space.