No time to think: protecting the reflective space in children's services

Over the past few years, first line managers in child care have faced mounting pressure on their time from both the national performance management agenda and the professional demands associated with the Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families and Working Together to Safeguard Children: A Guide to Inter‐Agency Working to Safeguard and Promote the Welfare of Children. This paper briefly discusses the policy context surrounding this period of unprecedented change and focuses on the potential erosion of the reflective space in supervision as first line managers struggle to cope with the ever‐increasing expectations. An argument is made for the creative use of multi‐agency action learning/ research projects within the workplace to supplement individual supervision and promote reflective multi‐agency child care practice; some examples of successful projects are given. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Difficulties with age estimation of internet images of south‐east Asian girls

Community paediatricians are increasingly asked to provide expert opinion on internet child pornography related to ‘sex tourism’, mostly in south‐east Asian countries. The girls involved are often prepubertal, and the main legal question is to establish whether they are under 13 years of age. This paper provides a review of the literature related to this question. Although there are limited data of age of menarche from the countries at risk of ‘sex tourism’, one recent study from the Philippines showed that the mean age of menarche was similar to the mean age of British girls born between 1982 and 1986. There are no data in the above countries on the early pubertal changes in breast development, but studies from India and China suggested that these might be more prolonged than for British girls. In particular, the interval between B2 stage (early pubertal breast development) and menarche was nearly 3 years in these developing countries, compared with 2 years for the British girls. Maternal malnutrition and girls small for gestational age at birth resulted in an earlier menarche, while chronic malnutrition, severe enough to cause stunting in preschool years, caused a delay in menarche. Taking into account information from the existing studies, we estimated that 97.5% of south‐east Asian girls will show pubertal changes of B2 stage by the age of 13.7 years. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

幼儿心理健康评定量表(CMHA-80)的编制及信效度检验

幼儿心理健康评定量表(CMHA-80)由注意力、认知、情绪情感、意志力、自我意识、性格、人际关系、社会行为、适应性、其它10个内容量表和1个效度量表构成,共80个项目。该量表家长测评内部一致性信度0.948,教师测评内部一致性信度0.968,信度高。家长测评各分量表与量表总分之间的相关系数为0.272-0.826;教师测评各分量表与量表总分之间的相关系数为0.357-0.880,且都存在显著相关,结构效度良好。量表评定结果与现场访谈问卷结果,在幼儿心理健康总体水平(较好)、有心理健康问题倾向的幼儿比例(约8%左右)上高度吻合,具有良好的校标效度。因此《幼儿心理健康评定量表(CMHA-80)》具有良好的信效度,符合测量学的指标。适用于3-6岁的幼儿心理健康相关研究的工具,具有幼儿心理健康水平测评、心理健康问题筛查和心理辅导效果评估等功能,并且能够引导幼儿园和学前教育机构进行幼儿的心理健康教育活动。     

儿童虐待和忽视综合性研究进展

摘 要：儿童虐待和忽视逐渐成为全球众多研究者关心的问题之一,多年来的探索都表明,虐待和忽视对个体的社会功能和身心健康会产生深远影响。笔者从儿童虐待和忽视的定义、分类、国内外现状、测量与识别、虐待与忽视的危害以及风险因子方面对当前该领域的研究进展做探讨,未来还需要对虐待和忽视的预防和干预做更深入的研究。     

Children with Keitai: When Mobile Phones Change from “Unnecessary” to “Necessary”

This paper focuses on children in Japan who begin using mobile phones (keitai) while in elementary school and will discuss aspects of parental–child relationships that involve keitai use. Firstly, this paper presents an overview of a Japanese society presently immersed in mobile media, focusing particularly on the spread of mobile media use to younger Japanese children. Data are presented from two research projects and analyzed to examine the cause of, and circumstances that lead to, child keitai use. Increasing social anxieties about safety and parental concern have reportedly led to increasing perception that keitai use is valuable in times of emergency, or in order to prevent crime, leading to a shift in attitudes towards children’s keitai use: that which was formerly considered “unnecessary” has now become “necessary”. However, the anxiety about safety is shared by almost all people and is therefore not itself a deciding factor regarding children’s keitai ownership. Keitai usage is, instead, prompted by several factors, some of which are not shared by children and parents. From this rift in reasoning emerges a game of tug-of-war over ownership and use between children and parents.

Money Matters: Young Adults’ Perception of the Economic Consequences of their Parents’ Divorce

A qualitative study examined the perceptions of 22 Israeli young adults (ages 20–25) of childhood parental divorce. Respondents discussed their experiences, including economic consequences of the divorce. Results related to the practical aspect of economic decline, to economic issues as embodiment of parental conflicts, and to children’s emotional and practical roles connected to economic changes. Children’s understanding and coping with financial issues are related to three profiles of overall adjustment identified in this study—resilience, survival, and vulnerability. Resilient young adults interpreted as empowering their understanding and coping; the survivors recognized their efforts as meaningful but burdensome; and vulnerable participants felt that economic changes caused a heavy financial and emotional price. Limitations and implications are discussed.

Pathways to the Clinician’s Experience of Empathy in Engaging Single Mothers at Risk for Physical Abuse of their Children

Based upon an analysis of interviews from a qualitative study with twelve agency-based clinical social workers, this paper recounts three “situational pathways” through which these workers were able to experience empathy in the process of engaging low-income single mothers whose presenting picture involved physical aggression toward their symptomatic children who the workers were also seeing for therapy. The paper describes and utilizes self-psychological and intersubjective concepts to understand the therapeutic contexts that may enhance the worker’s potential for experientially understanding the client’s viewpoint. The relevance of the findings for practice and training is discussed.

收入增加、健康干预与儿童营养不良率降低——基于2002—2011年31省市数据的分位数回归

基于对2002-2011年31个省营养不良率与收入增加、健康干预等因素进行的分位数回归,考察了相关因素对儿童营养不良率降低的影响。结果表明,收入增加是儿童营养不良率降低的重要影响因素,但其影响力度随着营养不良率的降低而有所减弱。这表明,单纯依靠增加家庭收入,并不能彻底解决儿童营养不良问题,而类似加强儿童保健管理和农村饮用水改善等卫生干预手段对降低儿童营养不良率则具有显著影响。这说明,要有效解决儿童营养不良问题,除了增加家庭收入以外,还需加大儿童营养干预力度和公共卫生的投入力度。     

《最蓝的眼睛》中二重组合的成长主体解读

在小说《最蓝的眼睛》中,托尼·莫里森创造性地运用了成对的成长主体和并置的叙事结构,以此在形式、内容及意义上突破了传统成长小说的框束,向读者展现了活生生的黑人女性艰难的成长历程,同时也使成长小说这一文类更加繁复且具有了新的时代意义。     

宏观汉语环境下0～2岁儿童汉英双语习得个案研究

本文是一个个案研究,描写和分析了一名中国儿童在OPOL语言输入原则下0到2岁期间的汉英双语习得情况,包括该儿童在此年龄段间的双语语音音位习得顺序和错误类型,双语词汇量统计,词义习得和早期双语语法习得。该研究的结果为其他宏观汉语环境下儿童双语习得的个案研究提供了一个可比的对象,对儿童双语习得现象和规律的认识具有重要的意义。