Potential of neighbourhood in promoting children’s wellbeing:Perceptions of mothers
Sylvie Jutras
Colette DubuissonUniversité du Québec à Montréal
18th IAPS Conference: Vienna, July 2004
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Objective of the study
To describe how mothers from different family conditions perceive
positive and negative
contributions of their neighbourhood
to the psychological wellbeing of their children.
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Mothers of children between 8 and 13 years of age (n = 201)
From an inner-city neighbourhood 76
From an affluent neighbourhood 67
With a diabetic child 27
With a deaf child 31
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2 questions about the neighbourhood
In your neighbourhood, who or what can FOSTER your child's psychological wellbeing?
Who or what are they?
How do they help?
In your neighbourhood, who or what can HINDER your child's psychological wellbeing?
Who or what are they?
How are they an obstacle?
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Analysis of the interviews
The responses were transcribed verbatim into a
databasebroken down into distinct units
of informationcontent analysed using a
response coding gridcomputed for their relative
frequencies
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Positive aspects of neighbourhoods
• Good community services
• Environmental amenities
• Conviviality
• Nice people
• Safety
• Social integration
• Children to play with
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Good community services
• Schools are close.• The playground,
the swimming pool.• Three recreation
centres.• The library, the
arena, everything is available.
11
Environmental amenities
• The big trees around.• There is no noise.• It’s a nice
neighbourhood.• The greenness.• There is a lot of space
for the children to play.
12
Conviviality
• We know everybody around.
• We can have confidence in each other.
• Neighbours chat with each other.
13
Nice people
• Nice families live here.
• They are good neighbours.
• His friends are well-mannered.
• We have relatives on the block.
14
Safety
• There is no violence here.
• It’s a residential neighbourhood. I’m not worried about her encountering prostitutes.
• Traffic is not that bad.
15
Social integration
• She is accepted by everyone despite her deafness.
• Neighbours are nice with him, just like they are with the other kids.
• She is friends with a lot of people around.
16
Children to play with
• There are plenty of kids of his age.
• Only families with children live around here.
• There are several children her age who she plays with.
Comparisons between mothers
of the four groups
Inner-city neighbourhood
Affluent neighbourhood
Diabetics
Deaf
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Percentage of mothers mentioning salient aspects in each group
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%
Children to play with
Social integration
Safety
Nice people
Conviviality
Environmental amenities
Good community services
Inner-city Affluent Diabetics Deaf
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Percentage of mothers mentioning salient aspects by child’s age
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%
Children toplay with
Socialintegration
Safety
Nice people
Conviviality
Younger children (8-10) Older children (11-13)
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Percentage of mothers mentioning salient aspects by child’s gender
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
Children to play with
Social integration
Safety
Nice people
Conviviality
Environmental amenities
Good community services
% Girls % Boys
24
Negative aspects of neighbourhoods
• Threats
• Lack of conviviality
• Social and economic problems
• Unattractive environment
• No children to play with
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Threats
• There is too much traffic.
• Drug dealers hang around.
• There is a lot of crime in our neighbourhood.
• The kids get into fights.
26
Lack of conviviality
• Parents around here don’t take care of their children.
• The other kids tease him because of his cochlear implant.
• People around here are so negative.
27
Social and economic problems
• There are prostitutes, drug dealers on my street.
• Parents are violent with their children.
• The teenagers are rude, there are gangs.
• Almost everybody is on welfare.
28
Unattractive environment
• The houses aretoo close to each other.
• It’s dirty, the dust is bad because she is asthmatic.
• The streets, the sidewalks areworn-out.
29
No children to play with
• She is alone, there are no friends around to play with.
• There are no deaf children in the neighbourhood.
• Kids around here are too old for her.
Comparisons between mothers
of the four groups
Inner-city neighbourhood
Affluent neighbourhood
Diabetics
Deaf
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Percentage of mothers mentioning salient aspects in each group
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
No children to play with
Unattractive environment
Social and economicproblems
Lack of conviviality
Threats
Inner-city Affluent Diabetics Deaf
33
Percentage of mothers mentioning salient aspects by child’s age
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
Unattractive environment
Social and economicproblems
Lack of conviviality
Threats
Younger children (8-10) Older children (11-13)
35
Percentage of mothers mentioning salient aspects by child’s gender
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
Poor community services
Unattractive environment
Social and economicproblems
Lack of conviviality
Threats
Girls Boys
36
In a neighbourhood that sustains children’s wellbeing, there are
No social and economic problems
Children to play with
Social integrationSafety
Nice people
Conviviality
Environmental amenities
Good community services
37
This may be harder to get for
Children living in an inner-city neighbourhood who face
Threats Social and economic
problems Unattractive environment
Deaf children who lack Community services Children to play with