Children's Close Relationships Research Articles

Elementary school children in the online world: Naming and mobilization of rights

AbstractThis study drew on interviews with elementary school children (aged 8–12), parents and teachers to explore whether and how children name online infringements of their rights and mobilize their rights when they experience such infringements. The findings revealed distinctions between rights infringements external to children's social world and infringements internal to this world that are intertwined with children's close relationships. Naming internal infringements proved more complex, particularly when the injuries were masked as pranks or conducted between siblings. The distinction between internal and external rights infringements was also apparent in children's mobilization of their online rights.

Contextualising the link between adolescents' use of digital technology and their mental health: a multi-country study of time spent online and life satisfaction.

Evidence on whether the amount of time children spend online affects their mental health is mixed. There may be both benefits and risks. Yet, almost all published research on this topic is from high-income countries. This paper presents new findings across four countries of varying wealth. We analyse data gathered through the Global Kids Online project from nationally representative samples of Internet-using children aged 9 to 17years in Bulgaria (n=1,000), Chile (n=1,000), Ghana (n=2,060) and the Philippines (n=1,873). Data was gathered on Internet usage on week and weekend days. Measures of absolute (comparable across countries) and relative (compared to other children within countries) time use were constructed. Mental health was measured by Cantril's ladder (life satisfaction). The analysis also considers the relative explanatory power on variations in mental health of children's relationships with family and friends. Analysis controlled for age, gender and family socioeconomic status. In Bulgaria and Chile, higher-frequency Internet use is weakly associated with lower life satisfaction. In Ghana and the Philippines, no such pattern was observed. There was no evidence that the relationship between frequency of Internet use and life satisfaction differed by gender. In all four countries, the quality of children's close relationships showed a much stronger relationship with their life satisfaction than did time spent on the Internet. Time spent on the Internet does not appear to be strongly linked to children's life satisfaction, and results from one country should not be assumed to transfer to another. Improving the quality of children's close relationships offers a more fruitful area for intervention than restricting their time online. Future research could consider a wider range of countries and links between the nature, rather than quantity, of Internet usage and mental health.

Young Children's Understanding of Emotions within Close Relationships

Fifty-five 4-year-old children took part in a study focused on children's accounts of the situations that caused happiness, anger, sadness and fear in themselves, their friends, and their mothers. Themes, agents, and adequacy of accounts were studied at two time points. Interpersonal causes of anger and happiness were cited by many children; confusion about causes of anger and sadness was not evident, although the notion of loss and controllability as factors distinguishing causes of anger versus sadness found some support. Accounts for self, friend, and mother differed considerably, suggesting emotion understanding could usefully be considered in relation to specific relationships. Analysis of individual differences showed that children who scored high on deception, emotion understanding, and false belief tasks at 47 months gave more adequate and differentiated accounts of mothers' and friends' emotions seven months later. Implications for our views of children's close relationships are discussed.

Book reviews

Book reviewed in this article:The Transition from Infancy to Language: Acquiring the Power of Expression. By L. Bloom.Cooperation in the Multi‐Ethnic Classroom. By H. Cowie, P. Smith, M. Boulton & R. Laver.Young Children's Close Relationships: Beyond Attachment. By J. Dunn.Coping with Two Cultures: British Asian and Indo‐Canadian Adolescents. By P. A. Singh Ghuman.Transition to Adulthood. The Role of Education for Young People with Severe Learning Difficulties. By M. Griffiths.The Grief Counselling Casebook: A Student's Guide to Unresolved Grief. By J. C. Gunzburg & W. Stewart.Parents and Their Children's Schools. By M. Hughes, F. Wikeley & T. Nash.In Over Our Heads: The Mental Demands of Modern Life. By R. Kegan.Psychology in Sport. By J. Kremer & D. Scully.Television and Everyday Life. By R. Silverstone.Through Writing to Reading. By B. Smith.

Book Reviews

Book Reviw in this Article:Fair Start for Children: Lessons Learned from Seven Demonstration Projects. Edited by M. Lamer, R. Halpern & O. Harkavy.Growing up with a Chronic Disease: The Impact on Children and their Families. By Christine Eiser.Black, White or Mixed Race? Race and Racism in the Lives of Young People of Mixed Parentage. By Barbara Tizard and Ann Phoenix.Pretending at Home: Early Development in a Sociocultural Context. By W. L. Haight & P. Miller.Children and Disasters. Edited by C. F. Saylor.Young Children's Close Relationships: Beyond Attachment. By J. Dunn.Adolescent Sexual Behaviour and Childbearing. By L. S. Zabin & S. C. Hayward.

Young Children's Close Relationships: Beyond Attachment

Individual Differences in Relationships Parents and Children Sibling Relationships Young Children's Friendships Connections between Relationships within the Family Connections between Family Relationships and Friendships Relationships in Action