Social isolation and telephone contact of self-care children : an exploratory study

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Barbara Virgo Hobbs (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Advisor
Hyman Rodman

Abstract: The study addressed two questions about school-age children who care for themselves during the time that school is out and their parents are at work. The first was, "To what extent are self-care children socially isolated?" and the second was, "What child, family, and environmental characteristics are related to more or less frequent telephone contact between mothers and their self-care children?" An attachment framework was used to investigate the variables related to mother-child telephone contact. . The sample consisted of 83 mothers whose children had been in self-care for at least 7 hours a week for at least 2 years. The sample is from a larger national sample of mothers who responded both to a magazine-distributed questionnaire and to a 2-year follow-up questionnaire about self-care. Both closed and open-ended questions were asked. Among the questions were several concerning the extent to which the children (1) talked to their mothers by telephone, (2) had a neighbor available, (3) were allowed to play with friends, and (4) had a sibling in self-care with them.

Additional Information

Publication
Dissertation
Language: English
Date: 1992
Subjects
Children of working mothers $x Social networks
Latchkey children $x Social networks
Mother and child
Telephone $x Social aspects

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