The Relevance of School Coexistence Free of Peer Violence in Relation to Children’s Subjective Well-Being: An Essay Article

Peer violence within school coexistence exposes children and adolescents to risk and vulnerability, therefore scholar bullying is also a relevant issue on childhood well-being. In that sense, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child constitutes a framework for promoting children’s well-being in schooling and education: in relation to protection rights from all forms of violence, schools should protect children from physical, mental or any other danger. The negative influence of scholar peer violence on children’s subjective well-being can be explored through the analysis of the responses given by a probabilistic sample of primary school children from Barcelona in 2017 (mean age = 10.7, analysed sample = 3,962) to the Barcelona Survey of Children’s Subjective Well-Being, an adapted version of the third wave of the International Survey of Children’s Well-Being from the Children’s Worlds international research project. It is noteworthy the negative influence of the scholar peer violence on the children’s subjective well-being, and that there are children without the personal and social support for deal with this type of adversity. Finally, some children’s interpretations and their proposals are shared to ‘taking decidedly action against bullying and preventing it’.

Correction to: Betwixt and Between: Adolescent Transitions and Social Policy Lacunae in Ethiopia

A Correction to this paper has been published: 10.1007/s41255-021–00019-y

Early Prevention of Maternal Sexual Abuse

Child sexual abuse has been discussed thoroughly; however, marginalized groups of victims such as victims of child sexual abuse in early childhood and victims of maternal sexual abuse have rarely been considered. This essay combines these two relevant perspectives in child protection and aims to pin out future directions in the field of child abuse and specifically maternal sexual abuse and its early prevention. In the course of the 7th Haruv International PhD Workshop on Child Maltreatment at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, in 2019 the topics of maternal sexual abuse and early prevention of child maltreatment in Germany were discussed and intertwined. Problems concerning the specific research of maternal sexual abuse in early childhood and prevention were identified. Both, maternal sexual abuse as well as sexual abuse in early childhood, i.e. before the age of three, are underreported topics. Society still follows a “friendly mother illusion” while recent cases in German media as well as research findings indicate that the mother can be a perpetrator of child sexual abuse. Similarly, sexual abuse in early childhood, namely abuse before the age of three, is existent; although the recognition of it is difficult and young children are, in regards to their age and development especially vulnerable. They need protective adults in their environment, who are aware of sexual abuse in the first years of life. Raising awareness on marginalized or tabooed topics can be a form of prevention. An open dialog in research and practice about the so far marginalized topics of maternal sexual abuse and sexual abuse in early childhood is crucial.

Contested Daily Routines, Contested Care. Children with Type 1 Diabetes in Covid-19 Times

The conventional treatment of Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) is especially demanding for children, both physically and psychologically (Iversen et al. Int J Qual Stud Health Well-being,13(1), 1487758, 2018). Continuous Glucose Monitoring Systems (CGM) are an important aid for children and their families in dealing with the disease. In their work, however, Şahinol and Başkavak (2020) point out that CGM carry the risk of viewing T1D as a technologically solvable problem instead of considering the disease as a whole. This is mainly creating confidence in technology due to CGM experiences while neglecting significant dietary measures and exercises needed to be integrated into daily routines. During the current pandemic, this problem seems to take on a whole new level. Based on two periods of in-depth interviews and observations conducted with 8 families with T1D children aged 6 to 14 living in Istanbul and Ankara (Turkey) from May to November 2019 and again from May to June 2020, we compare and focus on the experiences prior to and during the pandemic time. We argue that despite the possibility of technological regulation of the disease, the vulnerability of children is increased and, more than ever, depends on socio-bio-technical entanglements.

Lockdown and Children’s Well-Being: Experiences of Children in Switzerland, Canada and Estonia

This paper addresses the well-being of children in Switzerland, Canada and Estonia, as they experienced the lockdown imposed by governments after the state of international public health emergency, declared by the World Health Organization on 30 January 2020. Suspension of school or starting with distance learning, cessation of extracurricular activities, closure of playgrounds, parks, shopping centres and loss of daily contacts with friends completely transformed children’s lives. The surveys conducted by the authors in individual ways, were all inspired by their membership to the Children’s Understandings of Well-Being network and involved the participation of 403 children aged 7–17 years old (229 girls and 174 boys). They present the emerging trends from the children’s narratives focusing on their experience of the lockdown in relation to family life, school life, contacts with friends, and in relation to space, time and self. During the lockdown leisure activities and hobbies, followed by life with friends and school life challenged relational well-being the most, while family life opened up new perspectives and generational solidarity. Staying at home and decreased physical activity impacted on the physical health of children, missing direct contacts with friends and teachers put social relations to test, fear of the virus decreased feeling safe and secure, and the lockdown restricted participation in society. The findings underline the relational nature of their well-being. More in-depth studies are needed to highlight the widening of inequalities and the balance between protection and participation of children.

The Situation of Young People at Home During COVID-19 Pandemic

The political restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic affect all population groups. However, they are of particular importance for those, whose current phase of life is mainly shaped by social life in public space – adolescents and young adults. The (at least temporary) closure of schools and universities, youth facilities, sports grounds, and pubs as well as contact restrictions changed the living conditions of young people. Life shifted mainly to the home environment and young people are obliged to deal with the people they are living with more than before. The Germany-wide survey “JuCo – Experiences and Perspectives of Young People during the COVID-19 Pandemic” asked young people about their well-being, worries and experiences during the time of lockdown. This article presents results on the situation at home and the well-being of adolescents and young adults of n = 5,520 respondents. Regression analysis is used to determine which influencing factors (e.g. money worries) affect well-being at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results show that different factors are influencing youth’s well being at home during the lockdown. Especially the emotional and social nature of their home environment has a very significant impact on how young respondents experience it during lockdown as well as their possibility to go outside.

Enabling Violations: Social Class and Sexual Identity in Didier Eribon’s “Returning to Reims”

In this paper we explore what we can learn from Didier Eribon’s “Returning to Reims” regarding childhood vulnerability. We argue that the book offers a stimulating perspective on discrimination, humiliation, and injury. Although Eribon is twofold vulnerable due to his class and his sexual identity, his pain and shame does not make him defenceless. It makes him the subject he is: the wound caused by a violent heteronormative order. Therefore, becoming object of violations should not necessarily be conceptualised as the opposite to gaining agency but under certain circumstances can provoke resistance and rebellion. These interpretations are framed by theories of vulnerability mainly drawing on Judith Butler and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak as well as some thoughts about the new genre of “autosociobiographies” to which “Returning to Reims” belongs.