Children’s experiences and perceptions of street culture, parental supervision, and parent mediation in an urban neighbourhood

Local street cultures may appear more or less ‘extreme’, depending on several contextual factors. Using focus groups, the current study aimed to explore what children, aged 7 to 12, think of the assumption that parents play an important role on the street to increase safety in the public domain. Involvement of parents can either be helpful or contribute to escalation of the conflict. Children’s biggest concern was that parents are not able to be neutral or that children did not know the parent who intervened. They can imagine intervening being helpful when the intervening parents are known and trusted. We expect that, when the public environment is safe and social cohesion is strong, the amount of conflicts will reduce, and the help of parents will be generally accepted. We expect that increasing public familiarity and strengthening social control in disadvantaged neighbourhoods can further limit the negative influences of street culture

Can community based interventions prevent child maltreatment

Despite the many efforts taken to prevent child maltreatment, this continues to be a significant worldwide problem. Interventions predominantly focus on ‘at risk’ populations and individual characteristics of the victim or abuser, but is that enough? The present review was designed to examine the potential of community-based programmes, those that target the problem solving and helping processes in the community, and thereby aim to prevent child maltreatment. We searched for theoretical and empirical indications and for available programmes that focus on neighbourhood processes, based on the assumption that positive outcomes may not just be changes in individual behaviours, but may also include changes in community capacity. We found strong theoretical evidence that for stable and long-term behavioural changes it seems necessary to also develop activities aimed at changing distal social contexts surrounding the family, including neighbourhood and school factors, that is, the public domain. We argue that a strong social environment is a necessary condition for the prevention of child maltreatment. Community-based interventions can strengthen the socialising quality of the social environment. Since the high prevalence of child maltreatment remains a significant problem, despite the availability of effective family interventions, preventive interventions should target the wider social context of the family, in particular neighbourhood factors. Scientific literature generally showed that community-based interventions targeting neighbourhood processes are promising, although effectiveness should still be established. Empirical evidence is necessary to further develop promising community-based approaches for the prevention of child maltreatment

Children’s experiences and perceptions of street culture, parental supervision, and parent mediation in an urban neighbourhood

Local street cultures may appear more or less ‘extreme’, depending on several contextual factors. Using focus groups, the current study aimed to explore what children, aged 7 to 12, think of the assumption that parents play an important role on the street to increase safety in the public domain. Involvement of parents can either be helpful or contribute to escalation of the conflict. Children’s biggest concern was that parents are not able to be neutral or that children did not know the parent who intervened. They can imagine intervening being helpful when the intervening parents are known and trusted. We expect that, when the public environment is safe and social cohesion is strong, the amount of conflicts will reduce, and the help of parents will be generally accepted. We expect that increasing public familiarity and strengthening social control in disadvantaged neighbourhoods can further limit the negative influences of street culture