ABSTRACT
In this chapter we address the relative lack of attention paid to family life by geographers. We begin by outlining the ways in which family has been included in the discipline, contrasting this with sociological approaches to the family, to outline the limits of geographers’ engagement. In the second part of the chapter we use an empirical case study of adult problem Internet gamblers and their significant others to make a case for the importance of ‘family’ (in terms of both material and emotional support) throughout the life course and consequently to demonstrate why geographers need to pay more attention to personal and intimate relations.
