Spring 2004 - University of Kent

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Families and children Children and the issues around them are the subject of much academic work at Kent, and as a research area, cross faculty and department boundaries. Topics range from the care of children with disabilities, to prejudice in children, to the costs and practicalities of care and approaches to autism and dyspraxia. Following is a tiny sample of ongoing work on children-related subjects at Kent. Sociology: working children What jobs do children perform in ethnic businesses and on behalf of their parents? How do they understand and experience their labour? In her book, Helping Out, by Dr Miri Song, Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Kent, addressed the centrality of children’s labour participation in various family-based ethnic enterprises. Discussing the case of Chinese families running take-away food businesses in Britain, Dr Song examined how children contribute their labour and the context in which they come to believe in ‘helping out’ as part of a ‘family – work contract.’ Many young people, such as Anna, are aware of their importance to the viability of the business: ‘You knew your parents depended upon you. Half the reason they were pleased to have kids was that they needed them to maintain the business, and their lives got easier as you grew older and took on more responsibility. I just feel that my mum and dad could never have had a shop of their own and not had children.’ 12 Studies about ethnic businesses – which usually concentrate on their relevance to immigrant adaptation – have rarely examined the work roles, family dynamics, attitudes, and experiences of the people involved. Song explored the implications of these children’s labour for family relationships, the formation of cultural identity, and the future of the Chinese community in Britain. She argues that the practical importance and broader meanings of children’s work must be understood in the context of immigrant families’ experiences of immigration, social and economic marginality, and racism in Western, white – majority societies. Paranoid parenting Dr Frank Furedi, Professor of Sociology, has written numerous articles in the popular press on childcare, and his book, Paranoid Parenting, has been widely acclaimed by parents and childcare professionals. Hardly a day goes by without parents being warned of a new danger to their children’s wellbeing. Highprofile campaigns convince us that our children’s health, safety and development are constantly at risk. It is hardly surprising that parents become paranoid, afraid to let their children out of their sight. Even then, they are criticised by one childcare expert or another. It seems that parents can do nothing right. Parents do not know whom they can trust, but one thing is made clear to them – they cannot trust their own judgement. Paranoid Parenting investigates contemporary parental anxieties and suggests that these fears are themselves the most damaging influence upon children in modern society. Children are actually physically safer than they have ever been before and perhaps more in danger from the conflicting advice handed out to parents by different generations of ‘childcare experts’. Frank Furedi explains why parents feel paranoid and looks at how they can deal with the insecurity that is fostered by experts and the media. He goes on to give examples and build a case for parents relying more on their own judgement and circumstances. Psychology: how kids decide who’s in the ‘In Crowd’ Researchers have long known that children often dislike non-conformists. As they get older, however, they learn to judge others as individuals. Psychologists at Kent conducted a study to test that theory. Professor Dominic Abrams, Dr Adam Rutland and colleagues questioned 476 English children, aged 5 to 11, in the run up to the 2002 World Cup finals. Professor Abrams: ‘We first asked them how they felt about the English and German teams. Not surprisingly, children of all ages showed a strong preference for the English team. ‘Then we introduced two imaginary figures, Alex and Mark. Alex was either an Englishman who supported England or a German who supported Germany. The children considered Alex normal. Mark was introduced as either a British or a German person who would cheer for either team when they played well. The children judged Mark ‘different’. Children as young as five can understand the idea of loyalty, at least as far as it deals with sports teams. ‘As they get older, children become more sensitive to the attitudes of their own and other groups. English children who strongly support their own team may harshly judge an English fan who recognizes the strengths of both their own and an opposing team. However, they may accept a similarly openminded individual who belongs to an opposing group. This implies that while children continue to exhibit prejudice as they age, that prejudice
ecomes more subtle, sophisticated, and aimed at particular individuals.’ This work is one of a number of projects at Kent that are looking into the development of prejudice in children and at possible interventions to reduce it. The research is funded by the British Academy and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Tizard Centre: autism Numerous studies have reported the benefits of providing intensive early intervention for young children with autism, including significant acceleration of developmental and language gains, improved social behaviour and decreased symptoms of autism. One of the most effective programmes showed an experimental group to be significantly higher in IQ and educational placement than controls, and maintaining treatment gains several years later. Replicating this success, particularly in community-based settings, however, has proved difficult, and further research is needed to evaluate treatment outcomes. With support from the British Academy and the National Autistic Society, Dr Beadle-Brown (with Professor Glynis Murphy and Hannah Dorey) has been evaluating two treatment programmes. The progress of children undergoing interventions using Applied Behaviour Analysis based on Lovaas methodology is being compared to those in the Son-Rise Options programme, an attitudinal and educational intervention using intensive 1:1 home-based therapy. The study has also explored parenting characteristics that may influence choice of intervention. Results from this pilot study will inform a larger research project next year that will help give carers of children with autism the information they need to choose the most effective treatment. Electronics Department: children with dyspraxia Dr Richard Guest and Professor Mike Fairhurst are working on a new technique for assessing children with developmental dyspraxia. Together with researchers at the University of Rouen, France, they are using computer analysis to assess the outcome of writing and drawing exercises. These exercises are employed to gauge the nature and severity of medical conditions affecting neurological functioning. The Image Processing and Vision Group at Kent have led the way in developing computer-based analysis of such exercises and have been involved in collaborative projects with local clinicians for many years. The exercises require patients to copy geometric figures or complete other simple drawing or observational tasks. According to Professor Fairhurst: ‘Computer-based assessment of the tests not only improves the efficiency of testing, but also helps to extract information that is simply not available with conventional testing. This is because the computer can analyse not only the final image, but can also monitor how the drawing was executed, making available information about the dynamics of the drawing process’. The EU-funded project will allow the research team to further develop this work. Their aim is to analyse the effectiveness of the basic feature extraction techniques and identify more clearly which of those are useful across a wide range of clinical conditions and which are conditionspecific. The complementary skills of the UK and French partners will also benefit from the close involvement of clinical staff in both countries. Social Policy: should foster carers be paid? Lecturer Dr Derek Kirton (K72) has carried out extensive research (some in conjunction with Dr Jennifer Beecham of the Personal Social Services Research Unit) into the ways in which foster carers are paid and the impact this has on the state child care system. Foster care now provides for roughly two thirds of children 'in care' and is therefore central to their experiences and well-being. The payment of foster carers has long been a controversial area, not least because of suspicions that where there is payment, this may attract carers who are 'only doing it for the money'. However, the level of payment given has steadily moved beyond simply covering the costs associated with looking after children to ideas that the carers are engaged in 'work' and should be rewarded accordingly. This is partly a matter of rising expectations placed upon carers, who may be working with the children's parents, writing reports or giving evidence in court, but also reflects a world in which most women (married as well as single) work and are less available for unpaid care work than in bygone days. The research has attempted to look at how 'love and money', 'family' and 'work' interrelate in foster care. For policy purposes, the research has also considered the ways that payment influences the recruitment and retention of carers, and how it contributes to carers feeling valued and supported in their work. The picture that emerges is one where payment is increasingly important in foster care, but that carers are equally, if not more, concerned about the help they receive from social workers, schools and counselling services. 11 13
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Spring 2004 - University of Kent

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