Children & Society最新文献

Misinformation is one of the defining challenges of our era. Many young people are online for multiple hours a day and are exposed to vast amounts of misinformation. However, there is limited research exploring their understanding of what misinformation is and whether they feel equipped to spot and challenge it. The aim of the current study was to qualitatively explore young people's views on misinformation. Participants were N = 37 pupils aged from 11 to 14 who participated in focus groups. Data was analysed using thematic analysis. Three main themes were identified: awareness of misinformation, detection of misinformation and stopping misinformation. Although participants were aware of misinformation, they felt that spotting it was an intuitive skill and relied on others to help identify it. They did not feel empowered to challenge misinformation and felt the platforms had a key role in stopping the spread. This has implications for the design of misinformation interventions.

As digital technologies have become increasingly embedded in daily family life, there has been a growing international concern about children's protection, provision and participation rights in a digital environment. Recognising this, the Committee on the Rights of the Child published General Comment No. 25 Children's Rights in Relation to the Digital Environment (CRC, 2021), giving detailed advice on implementation issues in this area and calling for up-to-date research about children's digital lives. This paper makes a significant contribution to that much-needed knowledge base by reporting the findings of an online survey conducted with parents and legal guardians (n = 1444) (hereafter parents) of children aged 0–36 months across socially and ethnically diverse families in the four UK nations. The survey represented phase one of a larger three-phase project, ‘Toddlers, Tech and Talk’, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, which aimed to build an empirically robust body of knowledge about how 0-3-year-olds' lives intersect with digital technologies at home in socially and ethnically diverse families in inner-city, urban and rural communities. The survey found that nearly all family homes have Wi-Fi connection, that many homes have a wide range of digital devices and that very young children engage in a wide range of digital activities both with their parents and on their own. Parents' mediation practices are shaped by parental digital practices and attitudes, with concomitant implications for children's digital rights. Implications are highlighted.

The article listed below, intended for publication in the Special Issue ‘Childhoods and South-South Migration’ was inadvertently published in a regular issue, volume 38, Issue 5. This article should be cited as shown below.

Interrogating the agency and education of refugee children with disabilities in Northern Uganda: A critical capability approach

David Monk, Elizabeth Walton, Roda Madziva, George Opio, Annemaaike Kruisselbrink, George Ladaah Openjuru

Pages: 1419–1434

https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12810

Differential response (DR) is an alternative to traditional approaches in child protection. DR is promising for ethnocultural minority (ECM) families at low risk of maltreatment. This qualitative study explores the experience and perspectives of ECM families regarding DR based on interviews with 11 parents and four youth in Quebec. The results highlight the strengths of DR in establishing positive collaboration with families and the perceived positive impact. However, uptake of services by ECM families remains low due to barriers to accessing post-intervention support. Implications for the development of strategies adapted to the specific needs of ECM families are discussed.

This project sought to gather the voices of young children to investigate whether a co-development process could be used to develop a transition to school charter with children and their teachers. Children's experiences of the transition to school can have far-reaching effects on their continuing educational journey. Seven teachers from the early years of school and 52 children (3–5 years) participated in the project over a school year. Participatory action research framed the study, which utilised child-centred methods for children to describe their dreams, hopes and aspirations of what school would be like and how their transition could be improved. Teachers attended 2 days of professional learning supported by the research team to learn about child-centred research methods. They were supported to use analysed data in drafting their charter to take back to children for discussion and further input. Children described four main areas that were important to them in their transition to school. These were the importance of friendships, relationships and routines; expectations of play and learning; connections to home and family; and resources that reflected a sense of belonging of children and families. In addition, child-centred group discussions assisted in shaping the final charters. The findings have implications for connecting children and families to school and creating culturally responsive learning environments, programmes and practices. This study also showed that young children are capable respondents on matters that affect them, were able to participate in the co-development of the charter and when offered opportunities to exert their agency, are effective research allies.

In an age where the networked nature of online life, including social media, influences adolescents' identities, sharenting (parents posting information about their children online) ignites parent–adolescent tension, underscoring the need for a deeper understanding of its impact on family dynamics. This qualitative-phenomenological study allows observation of the perspective of Israeli Jewish and Arab adolescents regarding their parents' sharenting. The sample included 31 Israeli Arab and Jewish adolescents (20 girls and 11 boys), ages 14–18, who were interviewed mainly by telephone or via Zoom. The results revealed that most participants experienced ambivalent feelings about their parents' sharenting, acknowledging a difference between their own online identity and the one their parents created for them. Many felt that their parents generally depicted them more positively than they perceived themselves to be, contributing to this ambivalence. For some, sharenting evoked negative feelings and conflicts with their parents, particularly when they felt they had limited control over the content shared. This lack of control sometimes led to discomfort and tension in how they were represented online. Despite these concerns, most participants did not wish for sharenting to change, and many were often unaware of their parents' posts, as they were shared on networks the adolescents did not use. Additionally, it was noted that most Arab adolescents exhibited acceptance of parental sharenting, while most Jewish adolescents preferred that their parents consult with them before posting. We suggest that sharenting serves as the online arena for real-life adolescent identity development and adolescent–parent relationships. The findings can aid parents and educators in comprehending its effects and implications.

Attention has been given to child sexual exploitation (CSE) internationally yet there is limited evidence about the issue deriving from Australian contexts, particularly so for understanding this form of sexual abuse. This qualitative study explored CSE from the perspectives of child protection and out-of-home caseworkers (N = 15) from across three regional offices of one large state government district department in Australia. The aim was to provide an empirical contribution to the Australian evidence base in order to progress understanding of CSE, and to support policy and practice developments regarding its conceptualisation and definition for effective prevention and intervention. Analysis indicates three victimisation pathways for sexual exploitation, organised around (unmet) need and perpetrator gain, with no single perpetrator type. Family, relationships, living circumstances and statutory care involvement are important domains for ‘risks’ that coalesce to inform vulnerability to sexual exploitation, while also being significant in their own right. Findings suggest an urgent need for a shared definition in policy and practice directions in Australia that accounts for multiple models of CSE victimisation, and which recognises the centrality of unmet need to non-commercial CSE vulnerability and abuse. This paper therefore also contributes to emerging critical debate about the particularities of sexual exploitation as a form of a sexual abuse, and the need to retain its definitional distinction as exploitation for effective response strategies.

This paper examines the policing of harmful sexual behaviour (HSB) among young people in schools, drawing on qualitative research conducted with police and schools in southeast England. Utilising a Foucauldian surveillance perspective, we explore the challenges police experience in balancing punitive measures with relationship-building efforts. We highlight contradictions between policing objectives and strategies, with police engagement often emphasising surveillance, intelligence gathering and detection, including among officers endorsing relationship-based practice with young people. The overarching concern with behaviour management and discipline of young people in schools, combined with inadequate training and resourcing, perpetuates authoritarian policing practices, with implications for police–youth relations. We identify how tensions between deterrence and trust play out through a wider crisis of legitimacy regarding the capacity for legal frameworks and criminal justice to adequately capture and respond to HSB. We suggest these limitations undermine young people's rights, erode trust between young people and police, and ultimately compromise safety through hindering the effectiveness of HSB prevention and response efforts.

This study examines children's experiences in Iceland during the COVID-19 pandemic through their creative expressions submitted to the Ombudsman for Children. Analysing 454 submissions, including narratives, drawings and videos from children aged 6–16, the research identified two main themes: the ‘COVID-School’ addressing educational disruptions and peer relationships, and ‘Social responsibility’ reflecting children's engagement with health measures. Using Spray's framework of embodied, social and public child dimensions, the study reveals how children navigated pandemic restrictions while demonstrating remarkable health literacy and social consciousness. The findings emphasise children's agency and the importance of including their perspectives in public health crisis responses.