UK closely resembles the Australian approach, sharing a range of characteristics, as well as overall complexity. The latter, in combination with the fact that some processes will be new to the benefits system and its recipients, empha- sises the need to ensure all potential recipients’ information needs are met. Has the UK found the right balance between the Canadian and Australian models? The authors suggest that a trade-off between simplicity and responsiveness is inevitable, and that the challenge lies in deciding when this trade-off is worthwhile. This is a high-quality and readable report. It is concise, thoughtful and well structured. My only misgiving lies with the necessarily restricted scope of the analysis, limited to design differ- ences rather than encompassing a wider range of factors affecting service delivery. Careful eva- luation will be needed. This report will be of particular interest to policy makers and practi- tioners, as well as students and researchers in public and social policy. Gregory Khine Child Health Research and Policy Unit Institute of Health Sciences City University Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) DOI: 10.1002/CHI.812 Parenting in Poor Environments: Stress, support and coping by Deborah Ghate and Neal Hazel London: Jessica Kingsley, 2002 ISBN 184310069X, 315pp, £18.95 There has been a resurgence of interest in family functioning and child well-being in deprived neighbourhoods, more so since Labour came to power — the government has made the improve- ment of life in the poorest neighbourhoods central to its plan to eradicate social exclusion. This book, which reports the findings of research on family life and parental coping strategies in poor British neighbourhoods, represents a wel- come addition to the literature on family and social life in disadvantaged communities. The study is, in some respects, the British version of Furstenberg and colleagues’ (1998) US-based study. The same methodological approach is used in both studies (a combination of survey and qualitative data) and similar conclusions are drawn, although in Ghate and Hazel’s work there is more emphasis on social support and service provision for families in need. The theoretical perspective adopted in both books is a broadly ‘ecological’ one. That is, factors affecting behaviour are considered to be present within the individual, the family and other domains, such as the wider community (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). After the introduction, the methodology and demographic characteristics of the 1754-strong sample are described. The study population is mostly white, in their thirties, on low incomes and living in social housing. This is followed by chapters reporting study findings, organised in an ‘ecological’ fashion. We learn in the first two or three chapters, for example, that parents and children in poor communities have poorer health than the rest of the population, though the differentials in health and well-being between children in poor neighbourhoods and the general child population are less extreme than they are for adults. The results suggest that lone parents are not inadequate parents; the greater preva- lence of behavioural problems among the chil- dren of lone parents is largely attributable to poverty and not to marital status. They also suggest that individual and family characteris- tics are stronger determinants of health and well- being than neighbourhood ones; this confirms the findings of many neighbourhood studies where community characteristics have been shown to have only a modest influence on behaviour, independently of individual-level factors. We also learn that, despite high crime, rubbish-strewn streets and bad housing, parents in even the poorest neighbourhoods can feel very attached to their communities. The next seven chapters are devoted to explor- ing social support in poor neighbourhoods, Book Reviews 391 Copyright # 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. CHILDREN & SOCIETY Vol. 18, 387–394 (2004)