Children's Experiences (children + experience)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Children's Experience of Loss by Parental Migration in Inner-City Jamaica

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ORTHOPSYCHIATRY, Issue 4 2005
Audrey M. Pottinger PhD
Migratory separation, when parents migrate and leave their children behind, was investigated in a case-control sample of 9- to 10-year-olds living in inner-city communities in Kingston and St Andrew, Jamaica (N = 54). Data analyses using descriptive statistics and bivariate correlations showed that children's reactions to their parents' migration were directly related to poor school performance and psychological difficulties. Additionally, being currently exposed to violence in the home and/or community was significantly associated with high scores on a measure of grief intensity. "Protective" factors included having someone to talk to about the migration and living in a supportive family. Migratory separation needs detailed investigation like that devoted to other childhood family disruptions, such as parental divorce or death. [source]


Divorcing Children: Children's Experience of Their Parents' Divorce

CHILD & FAMILY SOCIAL WORK, Issue 3 2004
Ann Buchanan
No abstract is available for this article. [source]


Pre-teenage Children's Experiences with Alcohol

CHILDREN & SOCIETY, Issue 1 2008
James McIntosh
This article reports on the drinking experiences and motivations of 77 pre-teenage children. The main reason which the children gave for occasional or regular drinking was the pleasure which they derived both from the effects of the alcohol and from the social interaction which accompanied the activity. Several of the children claimed that they were partly motivated by boredom. Peer influence appeared to play a minor role as far as the recurrent consumption of alcohol was concerned. A number of causes for concern are identified in the article. These include the frequency of the children's drinking and the volume of alcohol consumed by some of them; their tendency to combine different types of alcoholic drink in the same session; the unreliability of measures undertaken by the children to reduce risk and ensure their safety and the ease with which alcohol could be obtained. These findings emphasise the need for drug education programmes to alert children to the dangers of alcohol consumption and equip them with the skills to deal effectively with peer pressure. There is also a pressing need to improve the leisure facilities available for young people as alternatives to drinking and other problem behaviour. © 2007 The Author(s). Journal compilation © 2007 National Children's Bureau. [source]


Save the Children's approach to emergency evaluation and learning: Evolution in policy and practice

NEW DIRECTIONS FOR EVALUATION, Issue 126 2010
Megan Steinke-Chase
The humanitarian assistance sector has developed globally from a state of spontaneous and disjointed approaches, and is striving to be more deliberate, coordinated, and accountable. Save the Children's experience has paralleled that evolution. This chapter explores advances in emergency evaluation approaches, utilization, and learning that have driven systematic improvements in Save the Children's policy and practice as it responds to major emergencies. It discusses challenges and successful efforts to internalize sector standards, ensure participation of affected populations, strengthen coordination across the sector, and increase impact measurement of emergency response. © Wiley Periodicals, Inc., and the American Evaluation Association [source]


Children's experiences with chat support and telephone support

THE JOURNAL OF CHILD PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY AND ALLIED DISCIPLINES, Issue 6 2009
Ruben G. Fukkink
Background:, In line with the wider trend of offering support via the Internet, many counseling and referral services for children have introduced online chat, often in addition to a traditional telephone service. Methods:, A comparative study was conducted between the telephone service and the confidential one-on-one online chat service of the Dutch Kindertelefoon. The design included a concise pretest and a posttest (n = 902). The study also comprised a follow-up test (n = 213), which included the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Results:, Children experienced a higher sense of well-being and a reduced severity of their problems after consulting the Kindertelefoon. The results were slightly more favorable for the chat service than for the telephone service. The follow-up survey showed that many of the children who contact the Kindertelefoon suffer from relatively severe emotional problems. Conclusions:, Both the telephone and the web-based support improved the children's well-being and decreased their perceived burden of problem. The results of this study underline the need for closer cooperation between child helplines and mental health and child welfare services. [source]


In-court versus out-of-court testimonies: Children's experiences and adults' assessments

APPLIED COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 7 2010
Sara Landström
The study examined the effects of different presentation modes on child witnesses' experiences and adults' perception and assessments of the same witnesses. Child witnesses (N,=,108) were interviewed about an event that they had either experienced or imagined. Adult mock jurors (N,=,240) watched the children's testimonies live, via two-way closed-circuit television (CCTV), or via a pre-recorded video. The results showed that the live observers perceived the children in more positive terms than did the two-way CCTV observers, who in turn perceived the children in more positive terms than did the video observers. Briefly, it seems as the more proximal the presentation mode, the more positive the observers' perception. Somewhat in contrast to these results, a significantly smaller proportion of the children who testified on video stated that they were nervous, compared to the children who testified live or via two-way CCTV. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Language Experience Shapes the Development of the Mutual Exclusivity Bias

INFANCY, Issue 2 2010
Carmel Houston-Price
Halberda (2003) demonstrated that 17-month-old infants, but not 14- or 16-month-olds, use a strategy known as mutual exclusivity (ME) to identify the meanings of new words. When 17-month-olds were presented with a novel word in an intermodal preferential looking task, they preferentially fixated a novel object over an object for which they already had a name. We explored whether the development of this word-learning strategy is driven by children's experience of hearing only one name for each referent in their environment by comparing the behavior of infants from monolingual and bilingual homes. Monolingual infants aged 17,22 months showed clear evidence of using an ME strategy, in that they preferentially fixated the novel object when they were asked to "look at the dax." Bilingual infants of the same age and vocabulary size failed to show a similar pattern of behavior. We suggest that children who are raised with more than one language fail to develop an ME strategy in parallel with monolingual infants because development of the bias is a consequence of the monolingual child's everyday experiences with words. [source]


Researching the reintegration of formerly abducted children in northern Uganda through action research: Experiences and reflections

JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY & APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 3 2010
Margaret Angucia
Abstract This paper presents experiences and reflections on the use of a participatory research methodology under the difficult conditions of a war situation in northern Uganda. We draw from two complimentary approaches in action research to explain our methodology while doing research on the reintegration of formerly abducted children. First, the experience oriented approach, which emphasizes the need to articulate experience as a basis for learning and knowledge. Second, the exemplary participatory approach which highlights the importance of enhancing empowerment and the need to find solutions for social problems. We find these two approaches useful for doing action research in a conflict area because of their emphasis on experience and empowerment respectively. In our research, experience is important because of the children's encounter with the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels that both needs to be understood and justifies reintegration. On the otherhand, empowerment is important for our assumption that the children's experience and encounter with the LRA has disempowering effects on them. We demonstrate the use of the approaches in our research by enhancing participation, balancing power relations and being aware of ethical issues while at the same time attempting to make the research valid inspite of the challenges. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


The therapeutic power of play: examining the play of young children with leukaemia

CHILD: CARE, HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT, Issue 6 2003
N. Gariépy
Abstract Background The therapeutic function of play has been investigated in relation to recognized stressors such as hospitalization, illness and medical treatments for ill children. While medical treatments in the past 30 years have improved survival rates, children's psychological experiences and quality of life during and after their illness have received limited attention. Objective The present study investigated the therapeutic effects of play on 3- to 5-year-old children with leukaemia compared with a control group of healthy children. Method The participants with leukaemia (n = 11) were from the external oncology clinic of an urban children's hospital; control children (n = 11) attended a day care centre. Measures included children's experience of stress, social and cognitive play behaviours, and daily mood. Results A series of manova revealed that the children with leukaemia, compared with the control children, engaged in (a) significantly fewer total play behaviours, and in particular less (b) parallel, (c) group and (d) dramatic play. Pearson correlations revealed significant relationships between reports of ,being happy' and play only for children with leukaemia. Quantitative and qualitative analyses revealed a pattern of repetitive play activities week after week for children with leukaemia, but not controls. Discussion Findings are discussed in light of the theoretical and practical implications for children undergoing treatment for leukaemia. [source]


Children's involvement in their parents' divorce: implications for practice

CHILDREN & SOCIETY, Issue 2 2002
Ian Butler
The paper reports findings from a research study that explored children's experience of divorce. It shows that children experience parental divorce as a crisis in their lives but that they are able to mobilise internal and external resources to regain a new point of balance. In doing so, children demonstrate the degree to which they are active and competent participants in the process of family dissolution. The implications of the data are then considered in relation to engaging with children involved in divorce and in relation to some of the cultural presumptions that might militate against hearing what they have to say about their experiences. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


"A Child Is a Child": Fostering Experiences in Northwestern Cameroon

ETHOS, Issue 1 2007
Heidi Verhoef
Past research comparing fostered and nonfostered children's welfare in sub-Saharan Africa has led to inconsistent results. One reason for this disparity might be that children's experiences are shaped more by the circumstances in which they are fostered than by merely being raised away from their parents. This article examines how fostered children in one urban community in northwestern Cameroon spend time relative to their nonfostered peers and, by grouping fostered children according to fostering circumstances, how they spend time relative to one another. Analysis of children's activities suggests little variance between the experiences of fostered and nonfostered children, but significant differences among fostered children. These results are interpreted using children's views of activities, and the potential consequences of children's relative integration in foster households are discussed. [source]


What's in View for Toddlers?

INFANCY, Issue 3 2008
Using a Head Camera to Study Visual Experience
This article reports 2 experiments using a new method to study 18-to 24-month-olds' visual experiences as they interact with objects. Experiment 1 presents evidence on the coupling of head and eye movements and thus the validity of the head camera view of the infant's visual field in the geometry of the task context. Experiment 2 demonstrates the use of this method in the naturalistic context of toy play with a parent. The results point to the embodied nature of toddlers' attentional strategies and to importance of hands and hand actions in their visual experience of objects. The head camera thus appears to be a promising method that, despite some limitations, will yield new insights about the ecology and content of young children's experiences. [source]


Prostate cancer: friend or enemy.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF UROLOGICAL NURSING, Issue 2 2010
Part one, the son
The aim of the study was to investigate the daily life experiences of sons and daughters following the father's prostate cancer diagnosis. This paper is part one describing the sons experience of life. Research in this field to date has predominantly focused on the father's experiences in coping with the disease, and there is a lack of research on the adult children's experiences following the father's cancer diagnosis. The study assumes a phenomenological,hermeneutic approach, using Ricoeur's theories of narratives and text interpretation. The informants were six sons of men diagnosed with incurable prostate cancer. All participants were interviewed 3 and 10 months after the father was informed of the cancer diagnosis. Data analysis was done in three stages according to Ricoeur: naïve reading, followed by a structured analysis, and concluded with critical interpretation and discussion. Results showed in the experience of worry and dilemma after the father's diagnosis, the son gradually adapted to the new life situation. The adaptation was conscious/unconscious and could be characterized as a personal transition. It is concluded that nurses need to include the son more in the care for the parents. [source]


The importance of exposure for healthy eating in childhood: a review

JOURNAL OF HUMAN NUTRITION & DIETETICS, Issue 4 2007
L. Cooke
Abstract Children's food preferences are strongly associated with their consumption patterns. Identifying the factors that influence preferences is therefore crucial to the development of effective interventions to improve children's diets. Perhaps the most important determinant of a child's liking for a particular food is the extent to which it is familiar. Put simply, children like what they know and they eat what they like. From the very earliest age, children's experiences with food influence both preferences and intake, and research suggests that the earlier and broader that experience, the healthier the child's diet. Laboratory studies of children's food acceptance have indicated that repeated opportunities to taste unfamiliar foods results in increased liking and consumption. In order to investigate whether these results can be replicated in real-world situations, a series of naturalistic studies testing the efficacy of exposure-based interventions have been carried out. In a school-based study large increases in liking and intake of raw red pepper were seen in 5- to 7-year olds and two further studies, in which mothers used exposure techniques to increase children's acceptance of vegetables, achieved similar results. If future large-scale interventions prove to be successful, training could be offered to health professionals or directly to parents themselves. [source]


Involvement with peers: comparisons between young children with and without Down's syndrome

JOURNAL OF INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY RESEARCH, Issue 5 2002
M. J. Guralnick
Abstract Background It has been well established that heterogeneous groups of young children with mild intellectual disability are at considerable risk of becoming socially isolated from their peers in school, home and community settings. Method Matched groups of young children with and without Down's syndrome (DS) were compared in terms of the children's involvement with peers, maternal arranging and monitoring of peer play, and maternal beliefs about inclusion. Results Despite aetiology-specific expectations for children with DS, no differences were found for a variety of measures of peer involvement focusing on the frequency of contacts and the characteristics of children's peer social networks. Maternal arranging of activities with peers was similarly related to peer involvement for both groups of children. Higher ratings of the benefits of inclusion were obtained from mothers of children with DS, but these maternal beliefs were unrelated to maternal arranging or peer involvement. Conclusions Parental adaptations to the aetiology-specific behavioural patterns of children and the general influence of children's experiences within a developmental framework are discussed in the context of interpreting aetiology-specific findings. [source]


Respecting the Language of Elders: Ideological Shift and Linguistic Discontinuity in a Northern Athapascan Community

JOURNAL OF LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 1 2007
Barbra A. Meek
This article examines an ideological shift related to and affecting language shift, focusing especially on children's experiences. I show that while elders retained their status as intellectual authorities responsible for passing their knowledge on to younger community members, their knowledge became limited to practices conceptualized as "traditionally Kaska," of which language was an integral part. As a result, the acquisition of Kaska became subject to the same social practices that organized other forms of "traditional indigenous" or specialized knowledge such that speaking Kaska became the domain of elders. Children's and youth's commentary and practices articulated and solidified this ideological transformation. [source]


Cultural Constructions of Childhood and Early Literacy

LITERACY, Issue 2 2001
Tricia David
This paper is based on the findings of two research teams, working collaboratively, between 1998 and 2000 in four countries: Australia, Singapore, France and England (see David et al 2000). Taking an ecological stance (Bronfenbrenner 1979), both teams adopted a cross-cultural approach in order to gain a better understanding of the contexts in which young children become familiar with literacy. The team led by Bridie Raban worked in Singapore and Australia, that led by Tricia David in France and England. Early years practitioners in all four countries responded to questionnaires, were observed in action and interviewed. (Information about their training and about entry to primary school in each of the countries is given in the endnote.) In addition, the research teams carried out document analyses on Governmental, research and training literature and teachers' plans, and discussed their findings with others in positions to be able to ,authenticate', or refute , findings. Further data were obtained through group interviews with parents of children attending selected settings involved in the research. Here we provide some of the evidence about the different views expressed by practitioners, our observational findings and analysis of the different pressures relating to literacy experienced in early childhood education and care settings. In each case the learning experiences practitioners provided for children were influenced by a range of factors, such as the contested role of preschools as preparation for schooling. In some settings this preparation was not explicit and practitioners often emphasised the importance of the ,here and now' nature of young children's experiences. Rosenthal's (2000) framework for exploring ,collectivist' and ,individualist' cultures in relation to their valued educational practices was applied to our findings, in order to identify how the cultural assumptions about literacy, learning and young children influenced the teaching approaches selected. [source]


Giving Voice to Children's Voices: Practices and Problems, Pitfalls and Potentials

AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST, Issue 2 2007
ALLISON JAMES
In this article, I explore the lessons that the anthropological debates of the 1980s about writing culture might have for contemporary childhood research within anthropology and the social sciences more generally. I argue that the current rhetoric about "giving voice to children," commonplace both inside and outside the academy, poses a threat to the future of childhood research because it masks a number of important conceptual and epistemological problems. In particular, these relate to questions of representation, issues of authenticity, the diversity of children's experiences, and children's participation in research, all of which need to be addressed by anthropologists in their own research practices with children. Unless anthropologists do so, childhood research risks becoming marginalized once more and will fail to provide an arena within which children are seen as social actors who can provide a unique perspective on the social world about matters that concern them as children. [source]


Describing the Dark Side of Preadolescents' Peer Experiences: Four Questions (and Data) on Preadolescents' enemies

NEW DIRECTIONS FOR CHILD & ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT, Issue 102 2003
Jeffrey G. Parker
This chapter addresses the potential implications of mutual antipathies for children's experiences with the peer group as well as the behaviors and perceptions that may drive dyadic disdain. [source]


What is Important to Young Children Who Have Cancer While in Hospital?

CHILDREN & SOCIETY, Issue 2 2009
Susie Aldiss
This paper reports on a participatory research project exploring children's experiences and views of cancer care services. It focusses on findings from interviews conducted with 10 children aged four and five years old. Play and puppets were used to help children express their views. The themes elicited reveal important aspects of hospital care for young children, such as having ,lots of toys' available and that ,mummy and daddy are near'. The use of play and puppets as a data-collection method is discussed, along with the implications of findings for the care and support of young children who have cancer. [source]


Some Australian Children's Perceptions of Physical Punishment in Childhood

CHILDREN & SOCIETY, Issue 6 2008
Bernadette J. Saunders
Despite ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, children remain the only people in Australia against whom violence may be justified as discipline. This article presents findings from qualitative research conducted in the State of Victoria, in which children were invited to contextualise incidents of physical punishment by describing the experience from different standpoints and reflecting on the feelings and motivations of victims and perpetrators. The research provides new insights into children's experiences of childhood ,discipline', as children reveal the physical and emotional impact of being hit by a parent, the futility of ,physical punishment', parents' confusing reactions and children's awareness of double standards. Children suggest more positive ways to communicate and to resolve conflict, and provide insightful comments that have the potential to enlighten adults' thinking about the issue. [source]


Understanding Gender Differences in Context: Implications for Young Children's Everyday Lives

CHILDREN & SOCIETY, Issue 2 2006
Virginia Morrow
This article reviews recent UK-based research that has prioritised children's accounts of their experiences of their daily lives, and focuses on gender differences in these accounts of family life, friendships, use of public space, use of out-of-school care, popular culture and consumption, and children's views of gender differences,drawing mainly from research with children in middle childhood. It then discusses some of the implications for practice and training for a range of professionals working with children. The article suggests that a re-evaluation of theories of gender differences in practitioner textbooks could usefully be undertaken to integrate more sophisticated, contextual notions of gender identities based on children's experiences. Copyright © 2006 The Author(s). [source]