Childhood recent issues

Editorial: Ratifying the Convention amidst the messy cultural politics of American childhoods

Cook, D. T. — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:03:49 PST

Accountability in Family Discourse: Socialization into norms and standards and negotiation of responsibility in Italian dinner conversations

Sterponi, L. — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:03:49 PST

This article explores morality as situated activity and approaches the discursive practice of accountability in Italian family dinner conversations as an avenue for understanding the construction of moral behaviour in everyday interpersonal interaction. The article focuses in particular on vicarious accounts, namely accounts, or explanations, provided by parents for a child’s misbehaviour. It examines the multiple socializing functions that vicarious accounts accomplish and the different dimensions of responsibility that they mobilize. While scaffolding children’s participation in episodes of accountability, vicarious accounts set up constraints on children’s autonomy of action, neutralizing more subversive and blameworthy interpretations of their problematic conduct. In this sense, vicarious accounts are qualified concessions and are face-saving acts both for the child whose action was signalled as improper and for the parent who initially requested the account.

How Children with Parents Suffering from Mental Health Distress Search for 'Normality' and Avoid Stigma: To be or not to be . . . is not the question

Haug Fjone, H., Ytterhus, B., Almvik, A. — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:03:49 PST

Using data from in-depth interviews with 20 children, this study finds that children with parents suffering from mental health distress struggle hard to present themselves as ‘normal’ and equal among their peer group. The study shows how they avoid stigma in their presentation of self in everyday life. All the children in this study, regardless of age or parents’ suffering, are active participants and impression managers in and of their own lives. The authors question whether their active responsibility for their own and their family’s well-being becomes too heavy a burden and should be moved from children’s private sphere into public arenas such as schools or social and healthcare services.

Children's Actions when Experiencing Domestic Violence

Overlien, C., Hyden, M. — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:03:49 PST

The aim of this article is, by analysing children’s discourses, to investigate their actions or absence of actions during a domestic violence episode. The empirical data are recorded group therapy sessions and individual interviews with children who have grown up experiencing their fathers’ violence against their mothers. The analysis shows that the children’s stories contain two aspects of actions: one related to the actions during the ongoing episode, and one the child perceives as possible/ desirable for the future. The findings are discussed in the light of Lazarus and Folkman’s theory of coping.

Gaming and Territorial Negotiations in Family Life

Aarsand, P. A., Aronsson, K. — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:03:49 PST

This article examines territorial negotiations concerning gaming, drawing on video recordings of gaming practices in middle-class families. It explores how private vs public gaming space was co-construed by children and parents in front of the screen as well as through conversations about games. Game equipment was generally located in public places in the homes, which can be understood in terms of parents’ surveillance of their children, on the one hand, and actual parental involvement, on the other. Gaming space emerged in the interplay between game location, technology and practices, which blurred any fixed boundaries between public and private, place and space, as well as traditional age hierarchies.

A Review of Children's Rights Literature Since the Adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child

Reynaert, D., Bouverne-de-Bie, M., Vandevelde, S. — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:03:49 PST

Children’s rights have become a significant field of study during the past decades, largely due to the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in 1989. Today, scholarly work on children’s rights is almost inconceivable without considering the Convention as the bearer of the children’s rights debate. The goal of this article is to critically explore academic work on the UNCRC. By means of a discourse analysis of international literature, the article maps the academic discourse on children’s rights. Three themes are identified that predominate in the academic work on the UNCRC: (1) autonomy and participation rights as the new norm in children’s rights practice and policy, (2) children’s rights vs parental rights and (3) the global children’s rights industry. That these three themes distinguish contemporary scholarly work on the UNCRC might not be a coincidence, analysed from the process of ‘educationalization’ that has characterized childhood in western societies since the 19th century. The perspective of educationalization presents a contemporary research agenda for children’s rights for the coming decades.

Children Representing Children: Participation and the problem of diversity in UK youth councils

Wyness, M. — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:03:49 PST

This article is concerned with the relationship between children’s participation and the diversity of childhoods. While there are a number of different arrangements for encouraging children and young people to participate, the article focuses on a dominant mode of participation through which children are elected to represent the interests of other children within formal institutional structures. Drawing on empirical data from work with school and civic councillors in the UK, the article critically addresses two questions: what level of involvement do these child representatives have within their schools and communities that allow them to articulate the interests of their peers? To what extent do these representative forms of children’s participation reflect the interests of diverse groups of children? The article concludes that the implementation of electoral forms of participation reinforce existing inequalities between groups of young people and are less likely to incorporate the voices of disadvantaged and socially excluded groups of young people. Formal structures of democratic representation may need to be revised in exploring more fruitful ways of articulating the voices of diverse groups of children and young people.

Forming Identities in Residential Care for Children: Manoeuvring between social work and peer groups

Stokholm, A. — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:03:49 PST

The general goal of Danish residential care institutions with a therapeutic objective is to change children’s behaviour and redirect their identity formation. This goal is pursued through an individualized focus on development. Dynamics of the resident group is rarely targeted directly in the pedagogical work. This article challenges the implicit understanding that social work is the primary source of identity transformation and that peer group interaction is mainly an obstacle to overcome. On the contrary, this article argues that learning about the social dynamics of the children’s group is a precondition for understanding how social work influences individual children.

Book Review: De Block, Liesbeth and David Buckingham (2007) Global Children, Global Media: Migration, Media and Childhood. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. (222 pp.). ISBN 0230506992

Leinaweaver, J. B. — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:03:50 PST

Book Review: Cassidy, C. (2007) Thinking Children. London and New York: Continuum. (196 pp.). ISBN 0826498183

Melchiorre, A. — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:03:50 PST

Acknowledgement of Reviewers

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:03:50 PST

Acknowledgement

Nieuwenhuys, O. — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 07:26:17 PDT

Editorial: The global financial crisis and children's happiness: a time for re-visioning?

Morrow, V. — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 07:26:17 PDT

Children's Participation in Decision-Making in the Philippines: Understanding the attitudes of policy-makers and service providers

Bessell, S. — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 07:26:17 PDT

This article explores the ideas about children’s participation in decision-making held by government officials and non-government representatives engaged in promoting children’s participation in the Philippines. It suggests that the ideas that policy-makers and service deliverers hold about children’s participation are heterogeneous, diverse and complex. While adults’ attitudes are often presented as serious barriers to children’s participation, this study suggests that they are both obstructive and facilitative. A deeper understanding of the range of ideas held by adults, particularly policy-makers and service providers, may be the critical next step in progressing children’s participation in a direction that is meaningful for children and influential in terms of policy outcomes.

Semantic Provisioning of Children's Food: Commerce, care and maternal practice

Cook, D. T. — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 07:26:17 PDT

Drawing upon in-depth interviews with mothers in the US about feeding their young children, this article examines how consumer culture — broadly construed — constitutes part of the indispensable context of mothering practices. The argument put forward is that mothers not only provide food and sustenance for their children, but necessarily encounter, engage with and make use of commercial meanings of foodstuffs as part and parcel of the caring work they accomplish while providing food and meals. The concept of ‘semantic provisioning’ is meant to capture the meaning-making labor of mothers as it arises in sometimes contentious negotiations with children over ‘proper’ and ‘appropriate’ foodstuffs and meals. The approach offered seeks to demonstrate how commerce, sentiment, caring and children’s subjectivities interweave at the level of practice.

Hearing Out Children's Narrative Pathways To Adulthood: Young people as interpreters of their own childhoods in diverging working-class Scottish communities

Cross, B. — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 07:26:17 PDT

Participatory research with children in the main focuses on short-term interactions. As this practice develops, questions about longer-term consequences for participants have arisen, examining the empowering claims for this research approach. This article reports the findings from continued contact with participants of an ethnographic participatory research project. Longitudinal interviews emphasize the lasting influence of their experience of adults in primary school and the resulting constructions of learning relationships. Their perceptions of authority, discipline, violence and justice are portrayed as pivotal in these young people’s transitions to more mature identities. In the cluster of narratives the research discussion elicits, these themes interweave. The article demonstrates that understanding the significance and meaning of children’s perspectives is a process that unfolds over time, and requires, as Christensen and Prout advocate, continuing dialogues with children and with social science colleagues. This process leads this researcher to a reassessment of what constitutes ‘participation’. The power constraints of which children are keenly aware shape the extent to which they engage in participatory research and the ways in which they may find it empowering.

Between Consumerism and Protectionism: Attitudes towards children, consumption and the media in Estonia

Keller, M., Kalmus, V. — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 07:26:17 PDT

This study measures attitudes towards children’s vulnerability or empowerment within consumer culture, based on data from a representative population survey (N = 1475) conducted in Estonia in 2005. The study use indices comprised of assessments of consumption practices and assertions pertaining to the ‘endangered vs empowered child’ debate in consumer and media studies. The results of the analysis show that consumerism and brand valuation are more strongly predicted by age and income and opinions about children’s vulnerability to advertising are mostly influenced by education and gender. Attitudes on the socializing role of the media are poorly explained by sociodemographic variables, although income and education play a more important role.

Childhood Experiences: a Commitment To Caring and Care Work With Vulnerable Children

Brannen, J., Mooney, A., Statham, J. — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 07:26:17 PDT

This article draws upon biographical interview material from a mixed-method British study of workers caring for vulnerable children: residential social workers, family support workers, foster carers and community childminders. It has two aims: (1) to identify the contexts — the particular events, circumstances and life course phases — that precipitated a move into their first occupation working with vulnerable children and young people; and (2) to analyse the main narrative resources that informants employed in explaining how they developed a commitment to care in general. It thereby suggests how workers are drawn to caring and when and why they take up this important work that is generally undervalued in the British context. In particular, it demonstrates how childhood constitutes a critical interpretive resource suggesting the importance of negative as well as positive formative experiences in creating a commitment to care for others, vulnerable children in particular.

No Place: Small children in Norwegian asylum-seeker reception centres

Seeberg, M. L., Bagge, C., Enger, T. A. — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 07:26:17 PDT

Drawing on empirical material from fieldwork among young children living with their families in two Norwegian reception centres for asylum-seekers, this article compares their realities to the norms and realities for other children in Norway. Children’s spatial and social situations within the centres stand out in stark contrast to Norwegian childhood ideology and norms. The authorities explain the divergence in terms of migration management, and the spatiotemporal and social positions of ‘asylum-seekers’ in relation to those of ‘children’ within the nation-state are brought to the fore in the article. The perceived political dilemma between migration control and Norway’s image as a promoter of children’s rights is highlighted, and the authors suggest that the dilemma may be less real than is widely assumed.

Research With Hospitalized Children: Ethical, methodological and organizational challenges

Coyne, I., Hayes, E., Gallagher, P. — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 07:26:17 PDT

Respecting children’s rights to be heard in matters that directly affect their everyday lives has become an established principle in Ireland and internationally. Accessing children’s voices raises a number of important issues for researchers across a wide range of disciplines. This article reflects on the organizational, practical and ethical challenges that arose from a study that investigated hospitalized children’s experiences of consultation and decision-making. The data collection process was hampered by practical and organizational factors, which consequently led to carrying out more individual interviews than focus groups as planned. Some obstacles associated with the hospital environment were practical issues that could be resolved, in contrast to ethical issues such as consent, privacy, access and the role of gatekeepers. The function of gatekeepers generally and in the healthcare setting in relation to accessing children needs to be debated and challenged because children may be silenced and excluded from the opportunity to have their voices heard.

Book Review: Hill, M., Lockyer, A. and Stone, F. (eds.) (2007) Youth Justice and Child Protection. London and Philadelphia: Jessica Kingsley Publishers (320 pp.). ISBN 184310279X

Harrikari, T. — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 07:26:17 PDT

Editorial: Is there an Indian childhood?

Nieuwenhuys, O. — Mon, 18 May 2009 06:08:07 PDT

Between Intimacy and Intolerance: Greek Cypriot children's encounters with Asian domestic workers

Spyrou, S. — Mon, 18 May 2009 06:08:07 PDT

This article explores how Greek Cypriot elementary school children construct their identities in relation to Sri Lankan and Filipino women who come to Cyprus as domestic workers. The article focuses primarily on the views of children whose families employ these women; however, the views of children whose families do not employ domestic workers are also explored to illustrate how these women are popularly constructed in children's imaginations and in the absence of direct daily interaction with them. The study reveals that children access different cultural discourses and construct identities that are often ambivalent and contradictory and are revealing of new forms of nationalism and racism. For the children whose families employ domestic workers, the home becomes an arena for renegotiating their status as children in their interactions with these women. Thus, the encounter between Self and Other becomes critical to understanding reconstituted definitions of childhood and adulthood.

Social Actors and Victims of Exploitation: Working children in the cash economy of Ethiopia's South

Abebe, T., Kjorholt, A. T. — Mon, 18 May 2009 06:08:07 PDT

This article explores the role of children in household livelihoods among the Gedeo ethnic community in Ethiopia. Three themes are discussed — reproductive activities, entrepreneurial work in marketplaces and sociospatial mobility — in the context of recent theoretical debates over children's agency and social competence. With shifts in rural livelihoods, children have developed new agentic and entrepreneurial skills in domestic work, trade and migration. This agency is negotiated in everyday life, but it is also structurally highly circumscribed. Situating children's work within post-rural economic development offers insight into the ways in which regional and global political economy shape their local livelihoods.

Pageant Princesses and Math Whizzes: Understanding children's activities as a form of children's work

Levey, H. — Mon, 18 May 2009 06:08:07 PDT

Organized children's activities qualify as children's work, in much the same way that school work does. Both produce transferable use value and create capital that contributes to the future production of goods and services. To illustrate this argument, this article draws on qualitative research primarily based on interviews with the parents of participants in two activities: child beauty pageants and academic enrichment classes. Despite considerable differences in the backgrounds of children who participate in these two types of activities, their parents converge in the reasons they give for enrolling their young children in these activities, and in their focus on their children's future careers and achievements.

Building Groups and Independence: The role of food in the lives of young people in Danish sports centres

Sylow, M., Holm, L. — Mon, 18 May 2009 06:08:07 PDT

This article, based on an ethnographic study, examines the role of food in the social interaction of 11- to 17-year-old youths in sports centres in Denmark. The sports centres serve as a free space where young people receive no adult supervision. This is underlined by their understanding and use of food in this environment. Food serves as a medium that introduces occasions for getting together. The article analyses the social significance and symbolic meaning of food in children's and adolescents' peer culture. As everywhere in social life, rules of food choice and eating signal the meaning of social relations and social contexts.

The 2003 War in Iraq: An ecological analysis of American and Northern Irish children's perceptions

Blankemeyer, M., Walker, K., Svitak, E. — Mon, 18 May 2009 06:08:07 PDT

This research incorporated an ecological approach to examine American and Northern Irish children's understanding of the 2003 war in Iraq and the sources of information from which they acquired that understanding. Responses to interviews indicated that the children from the two countries had some common conceptions of and sources of information about the war. However, American and Northern Irish children also differed on several items, suggesting that the macrosystem (e.g. sociopolitical context) plays an important role in children's conceptions of the war. Additionally, the exosystem (media) also played an integral role, as did the microsystem (parents), although to a lesser extent.

Welsh Children's Views On Government and Participation

Drakeford, M., Scourfield, J., Holland, S., Davies, A. — Mon, 18 May 2009 06:08:07 PDT

Qualitative research from Wales sought to explore aspects of children's views on government and participation. The research project was conducted in 2001 with 105 children aged 8—11 from a diverse sample of schools across Wales. The article first reports the children's perspectives on different levels (and places) of government: the UK parliament and the Welsh Assembly. Second, there is discussion of how the children see government as affecting their lives. The third section of the article presents the children's views on the extent to which they should have a say in local and national political decisions, the examples being the building of a new road in their community and going to war. The children, while declaring a lack of interest in politics in general, in fact engaged enthusiastically in discussion of specific issues that they saw affecting their lives. There was a general expectation that they should be consulted on issues that affect them directly and they saw the potential for their views to be fed into decision-making via intermediaries. Very few, however, expected their own views to be decisive, but rather most believed that their views ought to be considered alongside others.

Standardized Individual Therapy: a Contradiction in Terms?: Professional principles and social practices in Danish residential care

Egelund, T., Bocker Jakobsen, T. — Mon, 18 May 2009 06:08:07 PDT

This article explores a paradox that was identified during an ethnographic study of two Danish therapeutic residential institutions for children with emotional and behavioural problems. The key objective of these institutions is to provide specialized treatment for the individual child. However, the task of organizing everyday life for a group of troubled children is so demanding that little room is left for individualization. In practice, treatment takes the shape of a rather standardized package. Analysing individual treatment as a powerful kind of `institutional thinking', the authors delve into the meaning of an apparent contradiction in terms: standardized individual therapy.

Book Review: Howell, Signe (2006) The Kinning of Foreigners: Transnational Adoption in a Global Perspective. New York & Oxford: Berghahn Books. (255 pp.). ISBN 1845451848

Wang, L. K. — Mon, 18 May 2009 06:08:07 PDT

Book Review: Hungerland, B., Liebel, M., Milne, B. and Wihstutz, A. (eds) (2007) Working to Be Someone: Child Focused Research and Practice with Working Children. London and Philadelphia: Jessica Kingsley. (268 pp.) ISBN 9781843105237

Florencia Amigo, M. — Mon, 18 May 2009 06:08:07 PDT

Editorial: When a child is not a child, and other conceptual hazards of childhood studies

Cook, D. T. — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 02:47:28 PST

Freedom, Revolt and `Citizenship': Three pillars of identity for youngsters living on the streets of Rio de Janeiro

Butler, U. M. — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 02:47:28 PST

This article investigates the experiences, identities and aspirations of children and adolescents living on the streets of Rio de Janeiro, formed as they are around the conditions of exclusion, violence and discrimination. Significant here are experiences of revolta — revolt or rage — the aspiration for freedom through life on the street and the desire to be considered a citizen, like everyone else. The complexity of these experiences and aspirations in a society that continues to discriminate and curtail possibilities for social mobility are outlined.

`I'm Just Me!': Children talking beyond ethnic and religious identities

Moinian, F. — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 02:47:28 PST

This article explores how five children born in Sweden whose parents were born in Iran talk about their own cultural and ethnic backgrounds, and the role these play in their lives. The different ways in which they do so exemplify the complexity involved in the ongoing construction and performance of identities when certain identity options seem compulsory while others are made unavailable to them. The findings show that agency and choice are crucial issues for these children, and that they resist oversimplification, reductionism and categorization based on their cultural or ethnic backgrounds. Furthermore they draw attention to the fact that their reflective choices and self-chosen identities are often challenged both at home and in their schools. This study is intended to expand knowledge of children's lives and experiences and would be useful for both teachers and other professionals working with children.

`Barter', `Deals', `Bribes' and `Threats': Exploring sibling interactions

McIntosh, I., Punch, S. — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 02:47:28 PST

This article investigates forms of strategic interaction between siblings during childhood. The authors argue that these interactions, characterized by notions of reciprocity, equivalence and constructions of fairness, are worked out in relation to responsibility, power, knowledge and sibling status. Birth order and age are not experienced as fixed hierarchies as they can be subverted, contested, resisted and negotiated. To explore these issues, in-depth individual and group interviews were conducted with a sample of 90 children between the ages of 5 and 17, drawn from 30 families of mixed socioeconomic backgrounds in central Scotland with three siblings within this age range.

Child Poverty in Portugal: Dimensions and dynamics

Bastos, A., Nunes, F. — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 02:47:28 PST

This article analyses the extent and persistence of child poverty in Portugal between 1995 and 2001. Data from the Portuguese component of the European Community Household Panel Survey (ECHP) are used to estimate child poverty rates and children's flows in and out of poverty. The article focuses upon an analysis based on family income and on a set of non-monetary indicators. This approach allows a comparison of changes in child income poverty and deprivation and, therefore, tests the consistency of child poverty from a dynamic perspective. Overall, relative child poverty rates in Portugal are among the highest in the EU. Children are a group particularly vulnerable to poverty and show a significant risk of poverty, compared to the population as a whole. Children living in households with three or more siblings, children in lone-parent families and in households headed by an unemployed person present a higher risk of income poverty. In terms of deprivation, the results obtained are, on average, consistent with the outcomes of the family income based analysis. This study of child poverty presents a portrait of child poverty in Portugal, and offers important indicators for social policy design.

Presentation and Representation: Youth participation in ongoing public decision-making projects

Faulkner, K. M. — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 02:47:28 PST

This article draws on material from a case study of a group of young people involved in ongoing public decision-making in a local authority. The group of young people is compared to a political interest group and insights from the literature applied. It is argued that two of the strongest resources the group had to offer adult decision-makers were their ability to speak on behalf of other young people and to do this in acceptable ways. Looking in more depth at these two resources, it can be seen that both were actively constructed and contested by the adults and young people over time. Both resources can be seen as holding advantages for the young people while at the same time being continuously problematic for them.

Parent Participation At School: A research study on the perspectives of children

Vyverman, V., Vettenburg, N. — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 02:47:28 PST

The present article discusses the attitude of children towards parent participation at school. To this end, a quantitative study was conducted among 250 10-year-old children in Flanders. The analysis shows that children tend to rather like parent participation, and that this attitude is related to the extent to which parents participate. Children from `deprived' schools tend to like parent participation better. This article argues that children should be approached as fully-fledged, active participants in their parents' participation process and that it is necessary to take account of the specific perspectives of children on this topic.

Children's Participation Rights in Research

Powell, M. A., Smith, A. B. — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 02:47:28 PST

This article explores children's participation in research, from the perspectives of researchers who have conducted research with children. Researchers' reports, gained using an email interviewing method, suggest that children's participation rights are particularly compromised when the potential child participants are considered vulnerable and the topic of the research is regarded as sensitive. Such perceptions result in stringent gatekeeping procedures that prevent some children from participating in research. This article concludes that children should be viewed, not as vulnerable passive victims, but as social actors who can play a part in the decision to participate in research. Such a view would result in more careful attention to communicating effectively with children about research, and ensuring that they may have a more central role in decision-making about participation.

Book Review: Fingerson, L. (2006) Girls in Power: Gender, Body and Menstruation in Adolescence. Albany: State University of New York Press. (190 pp.). ISBN 0791468992. Pascoe, C.J. (2007) Dude, You're a Fag: Masculinity and Sexuality in High School. Berkeley: University of California Press. (227 pp.). ISBN 9780520252306

McNamee, S. — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 02:47:28 PST