Should We Care About Adolescents Who Care for Themselves? What We've Learned and What We Need to Know About Youth in Self-Care
| Autor: | Joseph L. Mahoney, Maria E. Parente |
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| Rok vydání: | 2012 |
| Předmět: |
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Perspective (graphical) Affect (psychology) Out of school Independence Article Developmental psychology Need to know Pediatrics Perinatology and Child Health Developmental and Educational Psychology Self care Life-span and Life-course Studies Association (psychology) Psychology Social psychology media_common |
| Zdroj: | Child development perspectives. 3(3) |
| ISSN: | 1750-8592 |
| Popis: | Developmental consequences for youth who experience self-care (unsupervised time during the out-of-school hours) have been of interest to researchers, policy-makers, and families for decades (e.g., Mahoney, Vandell, Simpkins, & Zarrett, in press; Vandell & Posner, 1999). Prior to the mid-1980s, youth in this arrangement were often referred to as “latchkey children” because of the house key they often wore around their neck (e.g., Long & Long, 1982). However, some considered this term to have negative connotations (Rodman, Pratto, & Smith Nelson, 1985), and descriptors such as “self-care” and “non-adult care” have been increasingly used instead. The changing terms coincide with an ongoing debate over the consequences of this arrangement for the healthy development of young people. Proponents argue for a positive impact of self-care, including its allowing parents the opportunity to work and providing youth an experience that may increase their responsibility, independence, and self-reliance (e.g., Belle, 1994; 1999; Galambos & Dixon 1984; Stewart, 1981). In contrast, opponents have pointed to risks that can arise for unsupervised youth, such as injury, victimization, exposure to crime, and association with deviant peers (e.g., Galambos & Dixon 1984; Riley & Steinberg, 2004; Zigler, 1983). This article provides an overview of the literature on adolescent self-care that is guided by the bioecological perspective to development (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006). This perspective assumes that development occurs through a process of continuity and change in interactions between the individual’s biopsychological characteristics (including physical characteristics, behavioral dispositions, motivations, abilities, and knowledge) and features of the nested ecologies (proximal to distal) that the individual is part of over time. In this view, understanding whether and how self-care affects development requires attention to relations among youth characteristics (e.g., gender, age, behavior) and ecological features that contextualize and affect adolescents’ self-care experience (e.g., parenting, peers, home, neighborhood). Other theoretical perspectives (e.g., routine-activity theory, person-stage-environment fit perspective) provide additional insight about individual and social-ecological conditions that are important for understanding consequences of self-care. This article is organized into three sections dealing with the prevalence and predictors of self-care; the consequences associated with self-care; and conclusions and future directions. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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