Jane Hartley
Research Fellow
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Biography
I graduated in Social Anthropology and Art History from the University of St Andrews (2004) and with an MRes in Social Anthropology from the University of Edinburgh (2007). In 2011 I gained a PhD in Medical Sociology from the Medical Research Council. My thesis, entitled ‘Do media portrayals of drinking and sexual/romantic relationships shape teenagers’ constructions of gendered identities?’, theorises Scottish teenagers’ perceptions of gender-appropriate behaviour; specifically sexual and romantic behaviour, and alcohol consumption. It considers in particular the relationship between the mass media and the identities of teenagers and concludes that rather than treating drinking and romantic/sexual relationships as discrete behaviours free of social context, they should instead be regarded as socially interconnected.
I took up my current post at the University of St Andrews in 2012. I currently project manage an international study which aims to develop the Family Affluence Scale (FAS), a survey tool measuring family affluence among adolescent populations.
My research interests include exploring how young people respond to living in a consumer capitalist society and what impact this has on their health, with a particular focus on stress and how the state of the mind is connected to the state of the body. I am also a trained yoga and meditation teacher and I’m interested in developing and evaluating school interventions in yoga and meditation to equip young people with the tools necessary to navigate life in a healthy way.