NEWS RELEASE
May 27 2003
Culture
of adult intervention is ‘stressing out’ our kids
Persistent
parental and adult intervention is making children stressed out and
creating a future generation of indecisive and vulnerable young adults,
according to research from UniSA.
“Australian
society portrays children as vulnerable and incompetent, and as passive
recipients of adult care and protection,” says Alan Campbell, lecturer
in social work and social policy at UniSA.
It
is an untenable position, according to Campbell, that is reinforced and
supported by many professionals in the areas of social work, psychology,
medicine and education.
“But
children can and do actively operate in their own environments and are
capable of making sound decisions on a daily basis if they are allowed
to,” Campbell says.
Alan
Campbell will present a paper on his current research The Voice of
the Child in Family Law: Whose Right, Who’s Right? as part of
the Conflict Management Research Group Seminar Series, Wednesday 28
May, 2003, 12:30 – 1:30 pm, Room 6 Murray House, Magill Campus,
UniSA.
“Children
need to be able to shape their own lives and find their own place in our
society, defining their sense of self through their interaction with
others around them,” Campbell says.
“They
need to be able to express themselves as part of a natural developmental
process - to have a voice in the decisions that directly involve them and
their daily life.”
Campbell
said that as part of his preliminary analysis of research data, he found
that children experienced higher levels of stress when they were excluded
from big decisions made about their lives. He said the children he
interviewed expressed a strong desire to have a voice in major issues such
as moving house, changing schools, friendship choices or parental custody
decisions in a divorce or separation.
“Children
recognise that parents and adults make wiser decisions when it comes to
bedtime routines, nutritional choices and television times but they
expressed a need to be part of the decision making process when the big
issues were on the table,” Campbell says.
“What
we are currently seeing is a culture of continual parental and adult
intervention which stems the need for children to negotiate their own
outcomes.
“What
concerns me most about this, is how we can then expect these same children
to move into the adult world where they will suddenly find themselves
faced with the need to make decisions, resolve conflicts and negotiate
their way through complex adult situations.”
Further,
Campbell said that children needed to be kept informed of the
circumstances surrounding life-changing issues.
“If
you talk to children about why decisions are made and how they feel about
those decisions, the chances are the outcomes will be far more positive
than when adults make unilateral decisions.”
More
information: Alan Campbell, School of Social
Work and Social Policy, UniSA, (08) 8302 4711 or Mobile 0417 557 609
Media
contact: Thel Krollig, Media Liaison, UniSA,
(08) 8302 0028 or 0407 726 175
Need an expert? Find one at UniSA’s online Directory
of Experts -
http://www.unisanet.unisa.edu.au/MDU/MDU-search.asp
.
