Between freedom and fear: Children's views on home alone

British Journal of Social Work

Volumn 40, Issue 8, 2010, Pages 2560-2577

  Ruiz Casares, Mónica ^a   Rousseau, Cécile ^a  

^a MCGILL UNIVERSITY   (Canada)

Author keywords

Child development; Children perceptions; Home alone; Immigrant children; Self care

Indexed keywords

EID: 78651264737     PISSN: 00453102     EISSN: 1468263X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/bjsw/bcq067     Document Type: Article

References (60)

1. Aizer, A. (2004) 'Home alone: Supervision after school and child behavior', Journal of Public Economics, 88, pp. 1835-48.
2. Aletha, C. H., Greg, J. D., Robert, G., Johannes, B., Vonnie, M. and Rashmita, M., et al. (2001) 'Work-Based Antipoverty Programs for Parents Can Enhance the School Performance and Social Behavior of Children', Child Development, 72(1), pp. 318-86.
3. Barber, B. K., Olsen, J. E. and Shagle, S. C. (1994) 'Associations between parental psychological and behavioral control and youth internalized and externalized behaviors', Child Development, 65(4), pp. 1120-36.
4. Belle, D. (1999) The After-School Lives of Children: Alone and with Others while Parents Work, Mahwah, NJ, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
5. Beyers, J. M., Bates, J. E., Pettit, G. S. and Dodge, K. A. (2003) 'Neighbourhood structure, parenting processes, and the development of youths' externalizing behaviors: A multilevel analysis', American Journal of Community Psychology, 31(1-2), pp. 35-53.
6. Bianchi, S. M. and Casper, L. M. (2000) 'American families', Population Bulletin, 55(4), pp. 3-42.
7. Borzekowski, D. (2006) 'Adolescents' use of the internet: A controversial, coming-of-age resource', Adolescent Medicine Clinics, 17(1), pp. 205-16.
8. Bowes, J. M., Flanagan, C. and Taylor, A. J. (2001) 'Adolescents' ideas about individual and social responsibility in relation to children's household work: Some international comparisons', International Journal of Behavioral Development, 25(1), pp. 60-8.
9. Call, K. T. and Mortimer, J. T. (1995) 'Helpfulness and the development of competence in adolescence', Child Development, 66, pp. 129-38.
10. Casper, L. M. and Smith, K. E. (2002) 'Dispelling the myths: Self-care, class, and race', Journal of Family Issues, 23(6), pp. 716-27.
11. Casper, L. M. and Smith, K. E. (2004) 'Self-care: Why do parents leave their children unsupervised?', Demography, 41(2), pp. 285-301.
12. Citizenship and Immigration Canada (2005) 'Recent immigrants in metropolitan areas: Montreal-A comparative profile based on the 2001 Census', available online at www.ci.gc.ca/english/pdf/research-stats/2001-montreal.pdf (retrieved 25 June 2009).
13. Cole, C. and Rodman, H. (1987) 'When school-age children care for themselves: Issues for family life educators and parents', Family Relations, 36, pp. 92-6.
14. Corsaro, W. A. (2005) The Sociology of Childhood, Thousand Oaks, CA, London and New Delhi: Pine Forge Press.
15. Dishion, T. J. and McMahon, R. J. (1998) 'Parental monitoring and the prevention of child and adolescent problem behavior: A conceptual and empirical formulation', Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 1, pp. 61-75.
16. Elder, G. H. (1974) Children of the Great Depression, Chicago, Chicago Press.
17. Flannery, D. J., Williams, L. L. and Vazsonyi, A. T. (1999) 'Who are they with and what are they doing? Delinquent behavior, substance use, and early adolescents' afterschool time', American Journal of Orpthopsychiatry, 69(2), pp. 247-53.
18. Galambos, N. L. and Garbarino, J. (1983) 'Identifying the missing links in the study of latchkey children', Children Today, 12(4), pp. 2-4, 40-1.
19. Gill, G. K. (1998) 'The strategic involvement of children in housework: An Australian case of two-income families', International Journal of Comparative Sociology (Brill), 39(3), pp. 301-14.
20. Gouvernement du Québec (2006) Loi sur la Protection de la Jeunesse, L.R.Q. c. P-34.1 (Youth Protection Act).
21. Gray, E. and Cosgrove, J. (1985) 'Ethnocentric perception of childrearing process', Child Abuse and Neglect, 9, pp. 389-96.
22. Gray, N. and Klein, J. (2006) 'Adolescents and the internet: Health and sexuality information', Current Opinion in Obstetrics and Gynecology, 18(5), pp. 519-24.
23. Gross, E. (2004) 'Adolescent internet use: What we expect, what teens report', Applied Developmental Psychology, 25, pp. 633-49.
24. James, A. (1998) From the Child's Point of View: Issues in the Social Construction of Childhood. In: C. Panter-Brick (Ed.), Biosocial Perspectives on Children (pp. 45-66). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
25. Jones, P. (2006) 'Home alone', Working Mother, 29(3), pp. 66-7.
26. Kaiser Family Foundation (2003) Growing Up Wired: Survey on Youth and the Internet in the Silicon Valley, San Jose Mercury News/Kaiser Family Foundation, Document Number.
27. Kaplan, S. B. (2004) '"The best thing is I can eat as many cookies as I want": Children's views of self-care during the after-school hours', paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association.
28. Kaplan, S. B. (2006) 'Children's views of self-care: Concepts of autonomy and risk', paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association.
29. Kerr, M. and Stattin, H. (2000) 'What parents know, how they know it, and several forms of adolescent adjustment: Further support for a reinterpretation of monitoring', Developmental Psychology, 36, pp. 366-80.
30. Koblinsky, S. A. and Todd, C. M. (1989) 'Teaching self-care skills to latchkey children: A review of research', Family Relations, 38(4), pp. 431-5.
31. Loo, S. K., NBala, i. M. C., Clarke, M. E. and Hornick, J. P. (1999) Child Abuse: Reporting and Classification in Health Care Settings, Ottawa, ON, Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada.
32. Lopoo, L. M. (2005) 'Maternal employment and latchkey adolescents', Social Service Review, 79(4), pp. 602-23.
33. Lord, H. and Mahoney, J. L. (2007) 'Neighbourhood crime and self-care: Risks for aggression and lower academic performance', Developmental Psychology, 43, pp. 1321-33.
34. Maynard, A. E. (2002) 'Cultural teaching: The development of teaching skills in Maya sibling interactions', Child Development, 73, pp. 969-82.
35. McHale, S. M., Crouter, A. C. and Whiteman, S. D. (2003) 'The family contexts of gender development in childhood and adolescence', Social Development, 12, pp. 125-48.
36. McMahon, T. J. and Luthar, S. S. (2007) 'Defining characteristics and potential consequences of caretaking burden among children living in urban poverty', American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 77(2), pp. 267-81.
37. Ministère de la Sécurité publique (2008) 'Statistiques 2007 de la criminalité au Qué bec', Québec: Ministère de la Sé curité publique.
38. Mott, J. A., Crowe, P. A., Richardson, J. and Flay, B. (1999) 'After-school supervision and adolescent cigarette smoking: Contributions of the setting and intensity of afterschool self-care', Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 22(1), pp. 35-58.
39. Padilla, M. L. and Landreth, G. L. (1989) 'Latchkey children: A review of the literature', Child Welfare, 68(4), pp. 445-54.
40. Peterson, G. W. and Hann, D. (1999) 'Socializing children and parents in families', in Sussman, M. B., Steinmetzj, S. K. and Peterson, G. W. (eds), Handbook of Marriage and the Family, 2nd edn, pp. 327-70. New York: Plenum Press.
41. Pettine, A. and Rosén, L. A. (1998) 'Self-care and deviance in elementary school-age children', Journal of Clinical Psychology, 54(5), pp. 629-43.
42. Pettit, G. S., Bates, J. E., Dodge, K. A. and Meece, D. W. (1999) 'The impact of afterschool peer contact on early adolescent externalizing problems is moderated by parental monitoring, perceived neighbourhood safety, and prior adjustment', Child Development, 70(3), pp. 768-78.
43. Polatnick, M. R. (2002) 'Too old for child care? Too young for self-care? Negotiating after-school arrangements for middle school', Journal of Family Issues, 23(6), pp. 728-47.
44. Renke, W. N. (1999) 'The mandatory reporting of child abuse under the Child Welfare Act', Health Law Journal, 7, pp. 91-140.
45. Richardson, J. L., Radziszewska, B., Dent, C. W. and Flay, B. R. (1993) 'Relationship between after-school care of adolescents and substance use, risk taking, depressed mood, and academic achievement', Pediatrics, 92(1), pp. 32-8.
46. Riley D. and Steinberg, J. (2004) 'Four popular stereotypes about children in self-care: Implications for family life educators', Family Relations 53(1), 95-101.
47. Riley, L. A. and Glass, J. L. (2002) 'You can't always get what you want: Infant care preferences and use among employed mothers', Journal of Marriage and Family, 64(1), pp. 2-15.
48. Rodman, H., Pratto, D. J. and Nelson, R. S. (1985) 'Child care arrangements and children's functioning:Acomparison of self-care and adult-care children', Developmental Psychology, 21(3), pp. 413-18.
49. Rousseau, C. and Drapeau, A. (1998) 'The impact of culture on the transmission of trauma: Refugees' stories and silence embodied in their children's lives', in Danieli, Y. (ed.), International Handbook of Multigenerational Legacies of Trauma, New York, Plenum Press, pp. 465-86.
50. Rousseau, C., Drapeau, A. and Platt, R. (2000) 'Living conditions and emotional profiles of Cambodian, Central American, and Québécois youth', Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 45, pp. 905-11.
51. Rousseau, C., Hassan, G., Measham, T. and Lashley, M. (2008) 'Prevalence and correlates of conduct disorder and problem behavior in Caribbean and Filipino immigrant adolescents', European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 17(5), pp. 264-73.
52. Ruiz-Casares, M. and Heymann, J. (2009) 'Children home alone unsupervised: Modeling parental decisions and associated factors in Botswana, Mexico, and Vietnam', Child Abuse and Neglect, 33(5), pp. 312-23.
53. Sarampote, N. C., Bassett, H. H. and Winsler, A. (2004) 'After-school care: Child outcomes and recommendations for research and policy', Child and Youth Care Forum, 33(5), pp. 329-48.
54. Shumow, L., Smith, T. J. and Smith, M. C. (2009) 'Academic and behavioral characteristics of young adolescents in self-care', Journal of Early-Adolescence, 29(2), pp. 233-57.
55. Skinner, H., Biscope, S., Poland, B. and Goldberg, E. (2003) 'How adolescents use technology for health information: Implications for health professionals from focus group studies', Journal of Medical Internet Research, 5(4), p. e32.
56. Steinberg, L. (1986) 'Latchkey children and susceptibility to peer pressure: An ecological analysis', Developmental Psychology, 22(4), pp. 433-9.
57. Thomas, D. (2009) 'The impact of working in a non-official language on the occupations and earnings of immigrants in Canada', available online at http://www.statcan.gc.ca/ pub/11-008-x/2009001/article/10771-eng.htm#footnote10 (retrieved 25 June 2009).
58. Vandell, D. L. and Corasaniti, M. A. (1988) 'The relation between third graders' afterschool care and social, academic, and emotional functioning', Child Development, 59(4), pp. 868-75.
59. Vandivere, S., Tour, K., Zaslow, M., Calkins, J. and Capizzano, J. (2003) 'Unsupervised time: Family and child factors associated with self-care', Occasional Paper Number 71, Assessing the New Federalism: An Urban Programme to Assess Changing Social Politics, Washington, DC, The Urban Institute.
60. Zukow-Goldring, P. (2002) 'Sibling caregiving', in Bornstein, M. H. (ed.), Handbook of Parenting. Volume 3. Being and Becoming a Parent, 2nd edn, New York, Routledge.