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Abstract: Abstract The aim is to describe parents’ worries about their family’s life situation during pregnancy and when their children are very young. The aim is to form a better understanding of parental worries for being able to better help them in child and family services. Previous research indicates that parental worries and concerns are not always addressed. Data consisted of parents’ open answers (N = 98) to questionnaires carried out at two time points: during pregnancy and the early childhood of the family’s children. The data were analyzed by inductive content analysis. The results show that families had six different types of worries. The parents described worries concerning health, parental challenges, relationships, sufficiency of resources, standard of living, and difficulties in obtaining support. Challenges related to family life or parenthood could emerge suddenly or develop slowly and cumulate. Either kinds of challenges were often difficult to solve without outside assistance. Identifying and intervening in parental worries sufficiently early is crucial and effective. It is difficult for the professionals who work with families to form a comprehensive perception of children’s and family’s life situation without systematic evaluation and discussions on parental worries. PubDate: 2022-03-30
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Abstract: Abstract The closing of UK schools to most children during the Covid 19 outbreak on an unprecedented scale, not even witnessed during the World War conflicts, caused ripples of panic across the UK. The risk to the future life chances of children and young people caused the nation to respond, from celebrities teaching children online to footballers influencing government policy. The risks associated with inaccessible school proved an unbearable thought to many. Yet the last decade has witnessed thousands of children and young people being unable to access school. These children and young people have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), despite harrowing media stories about children being socially isolated with their future unknown, the country did not respond. Policy interventions by successive UK governments, since the late 1970’s have continued to be embedded with the intention of inclusion and reaching potential – yet many of the children at the centre remain invisible and forgotten. This research considers how policies, politicians, and educational professionals speak of children as a collective, yet fail to see the generation lost before lockdown. PubDate: 2022-03-29
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Abstract: Abstract All individuals have similar psychological needs like experiencing self-efficacy, pleasure, or attachment (Epstein, 1993; Grawe, 2006). The way to get those needs met, however, is sometimes messy, especially when vulnerability is high. While the concept of hidden resilience has been introduced two decades ago (Ungar, 2002), hidden resources or more precisely hidden affordances of resources within hidden resilience seem to be rather unexplored. Conceptualising hidden resources allows to extent and strengthen the social ecological perspective of resilience, wherein factors and processes of resilience are conceived as contextually dependent. Hidden affordances (Gaver, 1991; Gibson, 1979) of resources can be understood as the nonconventional behavioural patterns used on the path facilitating (hidden) resilience, hence, a resource is equipped with different qualities that are compatible with and relevant for the individual’s psychological needs. Vulnerable children might be securing resources, helping them to stay healthy, by being angry, even aggressive. Various studies (Kassis et al., 2018; Sroufe et al., 2010; Ungar, 2002; Ungar et al., 2013) are in line with a view, indicating that resilience processes are rarely linear or ideal, in the sense that only the pure self-beneficial or socially accepted resources are navigated to. By acknowledging messy resilience processes, we sharpen the view towards hidden resilience and hidden (affordances of) resources which allows us to take off our conventionally tinted resilience-glasses and recognize various resilient ways of life. The conclusion opens the field of vision regarding successful adaptation to adverse situations and provides added value for educational sciences and therapeutic areas. PubDate: 2022-03-14
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Abstract: Abstract Peer violence within school coexistence exposes children and adolescents to risk and vulnerability, therefore scholar bullying is also a relevant issue on childhood well-being. In that sense, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child constitutes a framework for promoting children’s well-being in schooling and education: in relation to protection rights from all forms of violence, schools should protect children from physical, mental or any other danger. The negative influence of scholar peer violence on children’s subjective well-being can be explored through the analysis of the responses given by a probabilistic sample of primary school children from Barcelona in 2017 (mean age = 10.7, analysed sample = 3,962) to the Barcelona Survey of Children’s Subjective Well-Being, an adapted version of the third wave of the International Survey of Children’s Well-Being from the Children’s Worlds international research project. It is noteworthy the negative influence of the scholar peer violence on the children’s subjective well-being, and that there are children without the personal and social support for deal with this type of adversity. Finally, some children’s interpretations and their proposals are shared to ‘taking decidedly action against bullying and preventing it’. PubDate: 2021-12-23
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Abstract: Abstract This article highlights findings from an inquiry into the mental health experiences of Canadian youth who are considered at-risk. The term at-risk suggests that the youth are exposed to situations that place them in danger of being harmed physically, developmentally, and/or psychologically. This research focused on the lives and experiences of at-risk youth, ages 12–22 years who attended an inner-city youth agency in a large urban center in Western Canada. Narrative inquiry methodology was used to engage in relationships with the youth helped identify common themes in the lives of the youth which include: intergenerational stories, intergenerational stories of mental health, living amidst violence, disruption of family stories and composing forward looking stories without privilege. The intent of this work is to make visible the possibilities, potential and promise of each youth and to challenge negative and damaging terms such as at risk which highlight deficits in the lives of the youth. By shifting the focus away from this deficits-based approach towards one of hope and positivity, harmful labeling and stereotypes can be mitigated. PubDate: 2021-09-28
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Abstract: Abstract This paper discusses the notion of needs as understood by children and parents, drawing on data from the qualitative strand of Fair Shares and Families (FSAF), a longitudinal mixed-methods project conducted in England between October 2016 and September 2018, focused on a child-centred perspective of intra-family resources allocation. The paper presents the main aspects of The Pyramid of Needs, a cards game developed for the purpose of the study, and discusses the main results that emerged from interviews and the card game in terms of how needs are understood by children and their parents, and the aspects of consensus and conflict that we identified among these understandings. In this regard, we discuss two distinctions that resulted relevant in approaching this theme. At an empirical level, children and parents made a clear distinction between what they understood as needs and wants. At an analytical level, we reflect on the notions of needs and necessities as a useful distinction for understanding the tensions in how children and parents conceptualise and prioritise their needs. On the other hand, the paper discusses the methodological aspects of the card game, its strengths as well as limitations, for approaching phenomena such as needs and IFRA from the perspectives of multiple actors within families. PubDate: 2021-08-05
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Abstract: A Correction to this paper has been published: 10.1007/s41255-021–00019-y PubDate: 2021-07-21
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Abstract: Abstract Child sexual abuse has been discussed thoroughly; however, marginalized groups of victims such as victims of child sexual abuse in early childhood and victims of maternal sexual abuse have rarely been considered. This essay combines these two relevant perspectives in child protection and aims to pin out future directions in the field of child abuse and specifically maternal sexual abuse and its early prevention. In the course of the 7th Haruv International PhD Workshop on Child Maltreatment at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, in 2019 the topics of maternal sexual abuse and early prevention of child maltreatment in Germany were discussed and intertwined. Problems concerning the specific research of maternal sexual abuse in early childhood and prevention were identified. Both, maternal sexual abuse as well as sexual abuse in early childhood, i.e. before the age of three, are underreported topics. Society still follows a “friendly mother illusion” while recent cases in German media as well as research findings indicate that the mother can be a perpetrator of child sexual abuse. Similarly, sexual abuse in early childhood, namely abuse before the age of three, is existent; although the recognition of it is difficult and young children are, in regards to their age and development especially vulnerable. They need protective adults in their environment, who are aware of sexual abuse in the first years of life. Raising awareness on marginalized or tabooed topics can be a form of prevention. An open dialog in research and practice about the so far marginalized topics of maternal sexual abuse and sexual abuse in early childhood is crucial. PubDate: 2021-06-21
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Abstract: Abstract Many adolescents in Ethiopia face difficulties in successfully transitioning to healthy adulthood. This can stem from challenges experienced by two unique phenomenon: ‘early adulthood’ where adolescents are forced into adult responsibilities too early; and ‘waithood’ where adolescents are unable to obtain the foundations they need to successfully move into adulthood. This paper uses the lens of these two opposing challenges to explore adolescents’ ability to successfully transition into adulthood and examine how far social policies support these transitions. It uses qualitative and quantitative data from the Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE) study on adolescents and young adults, their caregivers and key informants, from diverse rural, urban and pastoralist settings in Ethiopia. Our findings show that adolescent transitions are impacted by a range of diverse barriers with high levels of unsupported adolescents facing early adulthood or waithood. As such, we find that adolescents are being failed by social policies at each end of the spectrum. Social policies could provide a foundation to support these adolescents, yet we find that many are insufficiently age-disaggregated to take into account their diverse needs. In order to appropriately support these individuals in transitioning to healthy adulthood, social policies need to be targeted at adolescents throughout each stage of their transition. Furthermore, such comprehensive age- and gender-responsive social protection should be complemented with wider programming, such as awareness building, skills training, and adolescent-friendly health and mental health services. PubDate: 2021-04-20
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Abstract: Abstract The conventional treatment of Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) is especially demanding for children, both physically and psychologically (Iversen et al. Int J Qual Stud Health Well-being, 13(1), 1487758, 2018). Continuous Glucose Monitoring Systems (CGM) are an important aid for children and their families in dealing with the disease. In their work, however, Şahinol and Başkavak (2020) point out that CGM carry the risk of viewing T1D as a technologically solvable problem instead of considering the disease as a whole. This is mainly creating confidence in technology due to CGM experiences while neglecting significant dietary measures and exercises needed to be integrated into daily routines. During the current pandemic, this problem seems to take on a whole new level. Based on two periods of in-depth interviews and observations conducted with 8 families with T1D children aged 6 to 14 living in Istanbul and Ankara (Turkey) from May to November 2019 and again from May to June 2020, we compare and focus on the experiences prior to and during the pandemic time. We argue that despite the possibility of technological regulation of the disease, the vulnerability of children is increased and, more than ever, depends on socio-bio-technical entanglements. PubDate: 2021-04-14
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Abstract: Abstract This paper addresses the well-being of children in Switzerland, Canada and Estonia, as they experienced the lockdown imposed by governments after the state of international public health emergency, declared by the World Health Organization on 30 January 2020. Suspension of school or starting with distance learning, cessation of extracurricular activities, closure of playgrounds, parks, shopping centres and loss of daily contacts with friends completely transformed children’s lives. The surveys conducted by the authors in individual ways, were all inspired by their membership to the Children’s Understandings of Well-Being network and involved the participation of 403 children aged 7–17 years old (229 girls and 174 boys). They present the emerging trends from the children’s narratives focusing on their experience of the lockdown in relation to family life, school life, contacts with friends, and in relation to space, time and self. During the lockdown leisure activities and hobbies, followed by life with friends and school life challenged relational well-being the most, while family life opened up new perspectives and generational solidarity. Staying at home and decreased physical activity impacted on the physical health of children, missing direct contacts with friends and teachers put social relations to test, fear of the virus decreased feeling safe and secure, and the lockdown restricted participation in society. The findings underline the relational nature of their well-being. More in-depth studies are needed to highlight the widening of inequalities and the balance between protection and participation of children. PubDate: 2021-03-29
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Abstract: Abstract The political restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic affect all population groups. However, they are of particular importance for those, whose current phase of life is mainly shaped by social life in public space – adolescents and young adults. The (at least temporary) closure of schools and universities, youth facilities, sports grounds, and pubs as well as contact restrictions changed the living conditions of young people. Life shifted mainly to the home environment and young people are obliged to deal with the people they are living with more than before. The Germany-wide survey “JuCo – Experiences and Perspectives of Young People during the COVID-19 Pandemic” asked young people about their well-being, worries and experiences during the time of lockdown. This article presents results on the situation at home and the well-being of adolescents and young adults of n = 5,520 respondents. Regression analysis is used to determine which influencing factors (e.g. money worries) affect well-being at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results show that different factors are influencing youth’s well being at home during the lockdown. Especially the emotional and social nature of their home environment has a very significant impact on how young respondents experience it during lockdown as well as their possibility to go outside. PubDate: 2021-02-19
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Abstract: Abstract In this paper we explore what we can learn from Didier Eribon’s “Returning to Reims” regarding childhood vulnerability. We argue that the book offers a stimulating perspective on discrimination, humiliation, and injury. Although Eribon is twofold vulnerable due to his class and his sexual identity, his pain and shame does not make him defenceless. It makes him the subject he is: the wound caused by a violent heteronormative order. Therefore, becoming object of violations should not necessarily be conceptualised as the opposite to gaining agency but under certain circumstances can provoke resistance and rebellion. These interpretations are framed by theories of vulnerability mainly drawing on Judith Butler and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak as well as some thoughts about the new genre of “autosociobiographies” to which “Returning to Reims” belongs. PubDate: 2020-11-28
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Abstract: Abstract Representations of Aboriginal childhood as a fraught and vulnerable existence are overdetermined by the material, affective, and psychic residues of colonisation in Australia. Ten years after the National Apology to the Stolen Generations, public discourse regularly represents Aboriginal children as neglected, shifting blame to Aboriginal communities whenever inequalities between Indigenous peoples and non-Indigenous Australians are raised. This paper situates such representations in the context of the racialisation of Indigeneity in Australia. Specifically, representations of Aboriginal childhood as ‘unliveable’ reinforce the colonial view that Indigeneity is in decline — children’s “failure to thrive,” so to speak, signalling the inevitable extinction of Aboriginal peoples. Government policies focused on children, in turn, have for generations severed First Nations children from the cultural systems that would nourish a sense of identity, belonging, and hope for a future lived as Aboriginal. Aboriginal Director Ivan Sen recasts images of juvenile vulnerability in his film Toomelah in order to explore its power. In Toomelah’s protagonist, Daniel, we find a burgeoning agency wrought in a space of self-conscious vulnerability, ethical ambiguity, and relationality. In contemporary Australia, government agency assessments regarding the care of Aboriginal children are guided by a limited understanding of “the child’s best interests” that fails to consider how the form of agency addressed by Sen might be nurtured. I argue that if Australia is to decolonise its systems of support and welfare, and promote conditions in which First Nations children and communities may thrive, such agency must be comprehended, supported, and encouraged to develop in situ. PubDate: 2019-10-01
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Abstract: Abstract Inadequate sleep arising from various lifestyle and behavioral factors can affect the daytime functioning in adolescents and influence their health and well-being We studied the influence of various biopsychosocial correlates (age, gender, grade level, problems at home, afterschool classes, extracurricular activities, parental influence at bedtimes and rise times) on adolescents’ sleep behavioral variables (sleep hygiene practices, sleep quality, sleep duration, daytime sleepiness). Design: A cross-sectional study design was used. Socio-demographic questionnaire on sleep and activities, standardized questionnaires on sleep hygiene, sleep quality and daytime sleepiness were distributed to a sample of 660 healthy adolescents, aged 11–17 years, studying from grade 6 to grade 12 in various schools in Mangalore, India. Participants’ age was significantly associated with sleep quality and daytime sleepiness, with a higher level of daytime sleepiness and poor sleep quality noticed in older adolescents’ age group. Grade level, average time spent on additional classes, and home atmosphere of the participants were significantly associated with the entire target variables, with higher grade levels, more hours spent on additional classes, and problems at home contributing to worsening of sleep practices. Gender or time spent on extracurricular activities was not significantly associated with target variables. Sleep hygiene, daytime sleepiness, weekdays and weekends sleep duration were found to be significantly associated with parental influence at rising times, whereas only sleep hygiene and sleep quality was significantly associated with parental influence at bedtimes. The study results suggest that various biopsychosocial correlates significantly influence sleep behavioral practices in adolescents. PubDate: 2019-10-01
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Abstract: Abstract The current study was designed in order to carry out a novel analysis of recent research efforts and to examine the inner balance within the academic corpus of knowledge on child maltreatment. Of 825 papers published in the field of child maltreatment between the years 2010–2015, 104 were randomly selected for critical review using a Facet Theory framework. All 104 papers were classified using a threefold mapping sentence addressing: knowledge (technical, phenomenological, emancipating), perspective (theory, worker, client), and system (micro, meso, macro). The findings show a clear preference for theory-focused, technical knowledge research on the micro level, at the expense of critical and phenomenological research on the meso and macro levels. Our discussion focuses on the toll taken by this imbalance within the current literature, in terms of the corpus of knowledge generated to support future efforts in research, policy, and practice. PubDate: 2019-10-01
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Abstract: Abstract The study aimed to determine the factors that affect transition from moderate and critical levels of vulnerability to improved vulnerability status. The central argument of this paper is that individual and household characteristics differ and therefore the effect of programmatic interventions on vulnerability also differs. The assessment is based on a pre and post study of a cohort of 17,484 vulnerable households from 35 districts in rural Uganda. Vulnerability transition was studied at two levels; (i) any improvement of the vulnerability score and (ii) improvement from critical level of vulnerability. The factors associated with transition from any level of vulnerability were; region, disability of the child, parenthood status, household size, age of the parent/guardian as well as participation in the activities namely; economic strengthening, child protection and access to legal services and family strengthening (p < 0.05). Similarly, the factors associated with transition from critical vulnerability were; region, disability of child, parenthood status, household size, as well as participation in the activities namely economic strengthening, child protection and legal services and family strengthening (p < 0.05). In conclusion, whereas interventions like economic strengthening, family strengthening, child protection, and food security and nutrition were associated with improved vulnerability, the characteristics of the individuals and the surrounding household characteristics play a critical role in transition from vulnerability. We conclude that interventions alone are not enough to support transition from vulnerability, but rather it is a combination and an interplay of different influences including individual and household characteristics. There is no ‘one size fits them all’ solution to child vulnerability improvement. This study highlights the need to strive for solutions that recognize the unique characteristics, needs and diversity among different vulnerable populations. PubDate: 2019-10-01
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Abstract: Abstract Oral history adds granularity to the great historical narratives by supplementing them with the everyday stories of contemporary witnesses. It is against this backdrop that this article devotes itself to the story of a young woman who, as a child, was taken from a Namibian refugee camp and sent to the German Democratic Republic (GDR), where she spent her childhood and young adulthood in a children’s home, was then returned to Namibia, and who is currently living in Ovamboland in northern Namibia in isolation and poverty. Her biography is indelibly marked by the programme of cooperation which existed between the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) liberation movement and the GDR between 1979 and 1990. This political programme was part of a large-scale international solidarity pact and saw children and teenagers being provided protection in the GDR, where they were educated to be the future elite of an independent Namibia. The narrative related by our contemporary witness is one of vulnerability, a story which stands in stark contrast to the powerful narrative of international solidarity. She tells her story with the help of a photograph album. The album provides her own personal story with pictorial support, without which she would have struggled to tell her story at all. Her story is at one remove from the master-narratives surrounding the cooperation between the GDR and SWAPO; it permits an alternative reading of history and reveals a story of personal injustice, the effects of which are still being felt today. PubDate: 2019-10-01
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Hybrid journal (It can contain Open Access articles)
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