Children Play Key Role In Forging Close
Communities
May 4, 2007
Contrary to popular opinion, children play a key role in strengthening local
communities and making people feel safe in their neighborhoods, according to a
study funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).
Much panic today about childhood in urban areas is based on a very partial
picture, argue the authors, Dr Susie Weller and Professor Irene Brugel, of the
Families and Social Capital ESRC research group, London South Bank University.
Their report challenges previous theories that social networks are largely
determined by parents. According to the evidence they found, children are active
- both indirectly and directly - in forging neighborly relationships and
connections for their parents.
The findings are from a three-year study involving some 600 children and 80
parents in five contrasting areas - two inner London boroughs, an outer London
suburb, a new town in the South East of England, and a city in the Midlands.
During the study, the researchers examined children's experiences of traveling
to school and to a wide range of activities outside the home - from formal clubs
to hanging out in the park.
They found that the more parents were involved in the lives of their neighbors,
the more freedom they gave their children. At the same time, the more social
networks children have in a neighborhood, the greater parents' confidence in the
safety of that area.
Many parents questioned were often torn between wishing to protect their
children and wanting them to be streetwise.
Dr Weller said: "On the one hand, children are frequently portrayed as
vulnerable, incompetent, and in need of protection from the possible dangers of
town and city streets. On the other, those allowed to go out and meet up in
public areas are often regarded as intimidating and anti-social."
However, many parents suggested that they had established more networks and
friendships in the local area through their children than by any other means.
This contact came via ante-natal classes, the nursery and the primary school, or
through their children's friends' families.
Parents acknowledged that their children had much less freedom to roam or
explore the neighborhood than they enjoyed. They saw this as a problem, and
would generally like the youngsters to be out and about more.
Said Dr Weller: "Whether the children were or not depended on a number of
things. Very often it reflected a local school culture as well as parents' and
children's experiences of trust and mistrust in an area. Parents whose children
had been subject to racial harassment or bullying were particularly wary."
The research suggests that when parents allow their children to roam, their
classmate's parents draw from that confidence. This in turn impacts upon their
classmates' freedom of action.
The researchers also found local differences as to which children go out and
about without adults, and these were not simply related to poverty, racial
background or local levels of crime.
Children living outside London were much less likely to travel unaccompanied
than those in the capital - and those who went to schools with high rates of
poverty least of all. Even so, children at schools with similar levels of local
poverty in Inner London traveled more than those living elsewhere.
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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr Susie Weller
1. The paper "Children's 'place' in the development of neighbourhood social
capital" is based on findings from a four-year project "Locality,
School and Social Capital", funded by the Economic and Social Research
Council. Dr. Susie Weller and Professor Irene Bruegel are in the Families and
Social Capital ESRC research group, London South Bank University, LONDON SE1
0AA.
2. Methodology: The three-year study, involving some 600 children between the
ages of 11 and 14, and 80 parents, took place in five contrasting locations: two
socially and ethnically diverse inner-city areas of London; one white
working-class inner-city area in the Midlands; one predominantly white,
lower-middle class new town in South East England; and an affluent outer London
suburb. Techniques included use of questionnaires, interviews and focus groups,
and activity sheets with families from various cultural, ethnic, religious and
class backgrounds.
3. The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is the UK's largest funding
agency for research and postgraduate training relating to social and economic
issues. It supports independent, high quality research relevant to business, the
public sector and voluntary organisations. The ESRC's planned total expenditure
in 2007-08 is £181 million. At any one time the ESRC supports over 4,000
researchers and postgraduate students in academic institutions and research
policy institutes. More at http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk/
4. ESRC Society Today offers free access to a broad range of social science
research and presents it in a way that makes it easy to navigate and saves users
valuable time. As well as bringing together all ESRC-funded research and key
online resources such as the Social Science Information Gateway and the UK Data
Archive, non-ESRC resources are included, for example the Office for National
Statistics. The portal provides access to early findings and research summaries,
as well as full texts and original datasets through integrated search
facilities. More at http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk/
Contact: Annika Howard
Economic & Social Research
Council
Medical News Today: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com
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