Child-centred Perspective Research Articles

Family Poverty, School Exclusion and Psychological Distress: A Multilevel Analysis in 15 Countries

ABSTRACT The relationship between family poverty and children’s psychological distress is well-established, often assessed through income-based measures. However, a child-centric perspective is lacking, particularly regarding the roles of teacher neglect and peer bullying as potential mediators, and the impact of cultural differences. This study explores how familial poverty affects psychological distress, examines teacher neglect and peer bullying as mediators, and assesses the moderating role of culture. Analyzing a global sample of 16,860 ten-year-olds from the International Survey of Children’s Well-Being, the findings reveal a positive correlation between poverty and psychological distress. Teacher neglect and peer bullying partially mediate this link. Moreover, the association between teacher neglect and psychological distress is stronger for children in collectivist cultures, while the association between peer bullying and psychological distress is stronger for children in individualistic cultures. This research provides new insights and practical implications for addressing children’s psychological distress worldwide.

The Well-Being of Left-Behind Children in Rural Sichuan, China

Chinese scholars focused on the status of children's subjective well-being. However, one significant gap is the need to measure comprehensive child well-being in China's backward economic rural areas. The study adopted a multidimensional child well-being approach and child-centred perspective to measure rural left-behind children's material, physical, educational, psychological, and social well-being and present the multidimensional well-being of left-behind children in rural China. The study adopted a quantitative approach, and the survey method was the preferred approach for this study. A multistage random sampling technique was used to choose the geographical location of the study, study area, and children as survey respondents. Four hundred eighty left-behind children aged 10 to 16 in Sichuan province, China, were selected for the study. The selected left-behind children experienced a high level of well-being domains, except for moderate educational well-being. However, pocket money, physical exercise, academic achievement, child welfare for education, social services, coping strategies, and activity engagement were the core targets to promote the left-behind children's well-being through improving social expenditure on children, empowering the child welfare system, and providing sufficient social services in school in China.

Children’s experiences of playground characteristics that contribute to play value and inclusion: Insights from a meta-ethnography

ABSTRACT For children, playing outdoors is a meaningful occupation, and such play is enabled by outdoor playgrounds. As play is a fundamental right for every child, Universal Design is an approach to creating inclusive playgrounds that welcome all children. Yet, research investigating how the physical environment of a playground supports children’s play needs, in terms of play value and inclusion, is largely absent. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate how children’s experiences of the environmental characteristics of outdoor playgrounds add to the understanding of play value and inclusion from a child-centred perspective. Using a meta-ethnography approach, a systematic review of qualitative evidence was conducted, which included 17 studies. The study identified two themes. Theme one describes the understanding of play value from the children’s view, which includes their experiencing and mastering of challenges, creating and shaping of the physical environment, social experiences of playing with or alongside other children, and sense of belonging felt from the welcoming playground atmosphere. Theme two describes how the design of the physical environment of a playground in the sense of the variety of spaces and places, and the variability of designed and non-designed elements, influences play value and inclusion. The line of argument synthesis describes the interrelationship between the physical (variety and variability) and the social environment (inclusion) characteristics of the playground through the socio-spatial element of play value. This study identified the interrelated elements contributing to high play value, and consequently place-making, which can contribute to the understanding of inclusive design for playgrounds.

The effect of food shape on children’s implicit and explicit emotional response

The appearance of food products is one of the most important aspects that determine food preferences and food choices in children. One of the approaches suggested to prevent children’s rejection of food products is controlling the visual appearance attributes to enhance acceptability and a more positive emotional response. In this regard, the main objective of this study was to determine the influence of food shapes on the holistic emotional response of schoolchildren. A group of 50 children (5–12 years old) took part in individual sessions to observe and to consume two food products designed from apple juice to have the same sensory properties, except the shape (i.e., triangle vs. apple). To measure the emotional response holistically, an emoji-based questionnaire was used to capture children’s self-reported emotions, while facial expressions and the skin conductance response (SCR) were monitored to represent the behavioural and physiological responses. Results showed that there were no significant differences in acceptability when data were analysed on average, but 31% of the children were influenced by the food shape, the apple shape was more accepted than the triangle shape. On the other hand, the holistic emotional response elicited by both food products were significantly different. In this regard, the apple shape evoked a more positive emotional response compared to the triangle shape. The study of children’s preferences and emotional response towards food shapes may help the food industry and other researchers to develop new food products from a child-centric perspective, enhancing acceptability and a more positive emotional response in schoolchildren.

Initial perception of the mentoring role and related mentors' approach of autonomy support or control in formal youth mentoring relationships.

Mentors' initial perceptions of the mentoring role in formal youth mentoring bonds; and the subsequent characteristics of autonomy support or autonomy control in mentoring interactions developed by mentors after 5 months of mentoring experience are discussed in this paper. The data is drawn from a longitudinal phenomenological study conducted in the Czech mentoring scheme between 2010 and 2017. In-depth semi-structured interviews were collected with 10 mentoring matches over 1 year of mentoring involvement. The results of Interpretive phenomenological analysis showed differences in mentors' initial perceptions of the role, and related autonomy-supportive or autonomy-controlling characteristics in mentors' approach. The benefits and risks of resulting autonomy support or control in mentoring interactions are discussed. The results argue for the theoretical conceptualisation of a child-centred perspective in youth mentoring that aims at mentees' support of autonomy, active agency and empowement, thus arguing for further in-depth exploration of natural mentoring principles in child-centred perspective, supporting approaches such as youth-initiated mentoring, and broadening the discussion on good evidence-based mentoring practice in the EU context.

Kinship and belonging: Pacific children’s perspectives on the diaspora

Our study with 71 children aged 6-14 living in New Zealand and Samoa, provides a new child-centred perspective on transnational diasporic families. We use the Pacific concept vā to frame the study, in which children’s transnational-kinship connections reflect relational rather than physical approaches to space. Familial habitus surpasses spatial habitus as children’s primary reference point. For diasporic children, family keeps alive their sense of Pacific Island belonging. Transnational kinship ties give Pacific children additional resilience in adapting to unknown futures.

A view from the ground: using participatory photography with hunter-gatherer children (Peru)

This article explores the use of participatory photography in ethnographic research with hunter-gatherer children. Drawing on my fieldwork in Peruvian Amazonia, I examine on how participatory photography can help researchers of childhood to move beyond the notion of child voice and explore non-verbal realms of knowledge from a child-centred perspective. While acknowledging the drawbacks and limits of child-centred visual methods, I will focus primarily on the advantages of using methodologies that can highly stimulate children’s enthusiasm and participation in the research process, allowing the researchers to move away from an adult-centric research approach.

Young people – citizens in times of climate change? A childist approach to human responsibility

The matters of climate change are presently of concern existentially and ethically to the children and the youth. Worldwide school strikes in 2018–2019 and the Fridays for Future movement demonstrate how the young citizens assume socio-political responsibility. However, what possibilities do children and young people actually have to influence global discourse? Are adequate thought structures in place for them to be taken seriously in matters of concern to them? Given that children and youth engage with the issues of climate change, with a concern for their own future and that of our planet, the aim of this article was to take a child-centred ethical perspective and to theoretically explore conditions for intentional inclusion of children and their ethical concerns. In such a critical exploration, aspects of identity politics and intersectionality are reviewed. Empirical results from an interview study with children aged between 10 to 12 years are presented demonstrating that climate changes are of existential and ethical importance to them. Thereafter, a ‘childist’ perspective is introduced and discussed. The interviews were carried out during 2019 in eight schools in South Africa and Sweden. The children were individually interviewed with a method allowing for open responses. The schools in both countries were located in areas where a lack of water had been experienced. In this article, a theoretical framework is developed based on the ethical recognition of a commonly shared human responsibility and using the concept of ‘empowered inclusion’. It recognises children in their own right and identifies vulnerability and interdependence as being foundational to human existence.Contribution: In present times, as the concern for their own future, that of future generations and that of the planet is becoming an integral part of the identities of children and youth, both existentially and ethically, this article brings to this special issue a discussion of conditions for a child-centred view on human responsibility.

Children in domestic violence shelters: Does the feminist perspective collapse?

SummaryEven though an extensive body of literature on children has swept the field of domestic violence in the last 30 years, little is known about how domestic violence shelter workers understand children’s situations and how they intervene with them. This article seeks to address this gap in the literature, and presents the results of a study conducted with 48 advocates in the province of Québec (Canada).FindingsThe data suggest that most of the participants adopt a child-centred perspective and consider the children in their own right during their stay. The accounts of the participants’ practices also reveal that they perceive children as being vulnerable and at-risk. With a moderate emphasis on vulnerability and risk, the participants tend to support the children alongside their mothers, while associating potential risks with the behaviour of the perpetrator of domestic violence. However, with a strong focus on vulnerability and risk, participants tend to cast aside the perpetrators’ behaviour and monitor the women-as-mothers during their stay while associating potential risk with their [in]actions under the circumstances. This can lead to mother-blaming, surveillance and more authoritarian interactions.ApplicationsThe understanding of children living with domestic violence needs to remain rooted in a feminist analysis of violence against women in order to avoid some of the issues highlighted in the article. Furthermore, studies that seek to shed light on best social work practices when working with children in alliance with their mothers from a feminist perspective are crucially needed.

Children's and adolescents' experiences of living with cancer.

Background All healthcare professionals working with children should have a child-centred perspective, and should be responsive to children and adolescents who want to talk about their thoughts and feelings. The child's or adolescent's story is the starting point for mutual understanding between them and the healthcare professional, and is the basis for shared decision-making between patients and healthcare professionals in child-centred care. Aim To advance understanding of how Swedish children and adolescents with cancer perceived the effects of the disease and its treatment on their everyday life. Method Ten girls and five boys, aged between five and 18 years, with cancer were interviewed individually using four communication tools. The interviews lasted between 20 and 65 minutes and took place without their parents present. The data were analysed using content analysis. Findings Transition to an unpredictable everyday life was identified as a main theme, with five subthemes: struggling with side effects of the cancer and its treatment; treatment as an 'emotional rollercoaster'; changed self and being vulnerable; changed social life; and concerns about academic achievement. Conclusion To provide effective support and care for children and adolescents with cancer, healthcare professionals should strive to listen to them and focus on their perspectives.

Gender, Parenting and Practices in Child Welfare Social Work? A Comparative Study from England, Ireland, Norway and Sweden

Abstract This article explores ways in which gender equality, family policy and child welfare social work intersect in four countries: England, Ireland, Norway and Sweden. Over time, conditions for gender equality in parenting have improved, partly due to family policy developments removing structural barriers. These changes, however, vary between countries; Sweden and Norway are considered more progressive as compared with the UK and Ireland. Here, we draw on focus group data collected from child welfare social workers in England, Ireland, Norway and Sweden to compare these different contextual changes and how these are reflected in related social work practice decisions. The focus group discussions were based on a vignette, and thematic analysis was applied. Overall, welfare social workers are aware of the need to support gender equality in parenting, there is a heavy focus on mothers in child welfare practice decisions, and fathers are largely absent. Uniquely, we show that this is influenced by both a strong child-centred perspective, and a gendered risk perspective, in which fathers are seen to pose more risk to the children than mothers.

Motor imagery and action observation for predictive control in developmental coordination disorder.

In 2019, international clinical practice recommendations on the definition, diagnosis, assessment, intervention, and psychosocial aspects of developmental coordination disorder (DCD) were published. Informing our understanding of mechanisms, recent systematic reviews have shown that children with DCD have difficulties with the predictive control of movements, including aspects of motor planning, which is expressed as the internal modeling deficit hypothesis. This motor control deficit is most evident when the spatial and temporal demands of a task increase. An increasing number of empirical studies suggest that motor planning problems can be remediated through training based on one or a combination of motor imagery and action observation. In this review, we show evidence of motor planning problems in children with DCD and show that task demands or complexity affects its appearance. Implications of these findings are treatments based on motor imagery and action observation to remediate motor planning issues. The article concludes with recommendations for future research.

‘New Italians’ and intercultural citizenship: Challenging hegemonic visions of migration, childhood and identity through fiction

This article explores how representations of migration in 21st-century Italian fiction, including texts aimed at children and adolescents, can foster intercultural communication and contribute to the creation of a more tolerant society. Children represent a large proportion of the number of migrants arriving in Italy every year. However, since immigration is a relatively recent phenomenon, and Italians are still struggling to accept their homeland’s transition from emigrant to immigrant nation, Italian fiction offers a useful platform for exploring and challenging stereotypes about childhood, migration, identity and multiculturalism. This article presents a close reading of four semifictional works selected for their child-centric perspective, and their authors’ desire to use storytelling as a contact zone, that is a tool for sharing memories and creating a community spirit capable of promoting a sense of belonging, even in the absence of a single physical place to call home. The texts in question are Sumaya’s Abdel Qader’s Porto il velo, adoro i Queen. Nuove italiane crescono [I wear a headscarf, I love Queen. New Italian women are growing up]; Giuseppe Caliceti’s Italiani, per esempio. L’Italia vista dai bambini immigrati [Italians, for instance. Italy seen through the eyes of immigrant children]; Fabrizio Gatti’s Viki che voleva andare a scula [Viki who wanted to go to School], and Carmine Abate’ La festa del ritorno [The homecoming party]. All four authors have either direct or indirect experience of migration and particularly of the impact that migration has on children. They also share a sense of commitment and engagement and particularly in Caliceti’s and Abate’s case, an interest in language as a form of resistance. Their works are clear examples of the power of literature in challenging some of the more problematic sociological and media discourses about childhood and migration that tend to represent children as vulnerable victims or potential criminals.

Shopping from a child’s perspective: an anxiety-generating experience?

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to offer some insight into how siblings aged between 4 and 12, engaged in a collaborative drawing activity at home, recall the shopping trips they have experienced.Design/methodology/approachUsing a Vygotskian perspective, the data collection consisted of engaging 15 pairs of siblings in the production of a joint drawing of a shop of their choice. Drawing in pairs opens a Zone of Proximal Development (Vygotsky, 1978) where the younger child benefits from verbal guidance by the older one to achieve the common task. This situation enables the researcher to gain close access to children’s knowledge about stores and to the words they use to describe their personal shopping experiences.FindingsThis exploratory research reveals some constitutive elements of children’s “shopscapes” (Nicol, 2014), i.e. the imaginary geographies they actively elaborate through their daily practices and experiences with regard to retail environments. In their communicative interactions when elaborating a joint drawing of the shop they have chosen, children demonstrate that they master a considerable body of knowledge about retail environments. Surprisingly, recalling their shopping practices sheds light on various anxiety-generating dimensions.Research limitations/implicationsThe data collection is based on a remembering exercise performed at home and does not bring information about what children actually do in retail environments. Moreover, the children were asked to focus on buying a present for a friend’s birthday, therefore the information gathered essentially relates to toy stores.Practical implicationsThis research underlines the necessity for retailers to endeavour to reduce some of the anxious feelings depicted and verbalized by children, by improving the welcome for children into their stores.Social implicationsThere are also opportunities for retailers to invest in the consumption education area by guiding young visitors so that they learn how to behave as apprentice consumers in retail outlets.Originality/valueThe child-centric perspective of the study reveals new and surprising insights about the way children report their memorised shopping experiences.

How do children make sense of food well-being? Food for thought for responsible retailers

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide a better understanding of what well-being means to children in the food context and to formulate recommendations about the way food retailers may take actions to promote children’s food well-being (FWB).Design/methodology/approachA qualitative study based on a child-centric perspective is conducted with 25 French children aged 6–11 years. The data collection and analysis use both verbal and graphic data methods including focus groups and drawings in order to help children express their feelings and thoughts.FindingsThe findings put forward that according to children, the concept of FWB relies on five dimensions: sensory taste, health, commensality, empowerment and altruistic behaviours. Their discourses suggest that food practices contributes to objective, hedonic, eudaemonic and social well-being on the short and long term.Practical implicationsBased on children’s intrinsic needs for pleasure and empowerment, our recommendations highlight how food retailers might rethink their own-label offering, retail environment and communication to take into account young consumers’ FWB.Originality/valueDrawing upon the concept of FWB and positive psychology, the authors do not only examine children’s food representations through a nutritional lens, but enlarge the scope to show how physical, emotional, psychological and social factors, involved in food context, contribute to different aspects of well-being.

Using a child rights approach to strengthen prevention of violence against children

Violence against children is widespread in South Africa. Much of it remains hidden, and social services are thinly stretched. This article therefore focuses on children’s rights to protection and considers the implications for healthcare practice. Children’s rights can be considered both a ‘language of critique’ and a ‘language of possibility’ – encouraging us to evaluate current practice from a child-centred perspective and to re-imagine ways in which we deliver healthcare services. The article outlines the nature, extent and long-term effects of violence against children, introduces a framework for conceptualising violence prevention, and considers ways in which health professionals can better respond to cases of abuse and neglect, and prevent violence against children from taking place.

Using a child rights approach to strengthen prevention of violence against children

Violence against children is widespread in South Africa. Much of it remains hidden, and social services are thinly stretched. This article therefore focuses on children’s rights to protection and considers the implications for healthcare practice. Children’s rights can be considered both a ‘language of critique’ and a ‘language of possibility’ – encouraging us to evaluate current practice from a child-centred perspective and to re-imagine ways in which we deliver healthcare services. The article outlines the nature, extent and long-term effects of violence against children, introduces a framework for conceptualising violence prevention, and considers ways in which health professionals can better respond to cases of abuse and neglect, and prevent violence against children from taking place.

Using a child rights approach to strengthen prevention of violence against children

Violence against children is widespread in South Africa. Much of it remains hidden, and social services are thinly stretched. This article therefore focuses on children’s rights to protection and considers the implications for healthcare practice. Children’s rights can be considered both a ‘language of critique’ and a ‘language of possibility’ – encouraging us to evaluate current practice from a child-centred perspective and to re-imagine ways in which we deliver healthcare services. The article outlines the nature, extent and long-term effects of violence against children, introduces a framework for conceptualising violence prevention, and considers ways in which health professionals can better respond to cases of abuse and neglect, and prevent violence against children from taking place.

How do Family Economic Contexts Affect Children’s Subjective Well-Being? A Study of South Korea

The aim of this research is to examine the relationship between family economic contexts and children’s subjective well-being using a child-centric perspective and to examine the mediation effects of basic psychological needs (peer relatedness and academic competence) based on self-determination theory. To investigate children’s real life experiences, family economic contexts are measured by two indicators, income-to-needs ratio and Child Material Deprivation Index (CMDI). Subjective well-being is measured by Student’s Life Satisfaction Scale (SLSS) and positive affect. A subsample of the South Korean data from the International Survey of Children’s Well-being project (ISCWeB) is used for statistical analysis. The sample consists of 4403 10- and 12-year-old children. Structural equation modeling with bootstrapping is utilized to examine the direct and indirect effects of the analytic model. The results show that CMDI is significantly related to SLSS and positive affect. However, the coefficients between family income-to-need ratio and subjective well-being indicators are not statistically significant. The basic psychological needs (peer relatedness and academic competence) have significant effects on SLSS and positive affect. The indirect effects of CMDI and income-to-needs on subjective well-being, mediated by peer relatedness and academic competence, are statistically significant. The results suggest that CMDI may be a better indicator than family income when investigating children’s subjective well-being, and that self-determination theory is applicable to studies on South Korean children’s well-being. Based on the results, implications and recommendations are discussed.

Do poorer youth have fewer friends? The role of household and child economic resources in adolescent school-class friendships

Poverty among children and adolescents attracts considerable research interest, and many are concerned with the potential consequences of poverty for children's well-being and development. Research is however lacking on the consequences of economic hardship for children's social relations. This article asks whether adolescents with a lack of economic resources have fewer school-class friends than others, something we would expect given the modern view of poverty as a lack of economic resources that has negative social consequences. We take a child-centred perspective in explicitly acknowledging the role of the child's own economic and material resources alongside the more traditional measurement of parental incomes, and we use sociometric (network) data to assess children's school-class friendships. We find that adolescents with the lowest family incomes and those who often miss out on activities due to a lack of economic resources receive on average fewer friendship nominations and are more likely to experience social isolation in the school class. Access to an own room is also of some importance for the number of friends. These results point towards the importance for adolescents' social relations of having the economic and material possibilities to participate in the social life and in activities undertaken by peers. The estimated effects of household income and of students' own economic situation are largely independent of each other, suggesting that the common practice of assessing child economic conditions through parental income gives an incomplete picture. We suggest that policies directly targeting children's activities and social participation may be a relatively direct and cost-effective way of reducing the impact of economic resources and greatly improve the everyday lives of many adolescents and promote their social inclusion.