Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T09:13:52.993Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

How exclusion from the public and private realm can negatively effect adolescents’ sense of community belonging

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 April 2021

C. Barron
C. Barron*
Affiliation:
School of Nursing, Psychotherapy and Community Health, Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland
*
Address for correspondence: Dr Carol Barron, School of Nursing, Psychotherapy and Community Health, Dublin City University, Ireland. (Email: [email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Objectives:

This paper discusses the issue of adolescent exclusion from the public (playgrounds, beaches, roads) and private realm (homes) and its link to their sense of community belonging, identity, and mental health.

Methods:

This research project employed a rights-based approach, and such a methodology focuses on research with, rather than research about, children and adolescents. In line with this philosophy, a wide range of qualitative participatory methodologies were employed with children and adolescents. In total, 411 children and adolescents (3–17 years) took part in consultation workshops across the county.

Results:

From the age of 11 onwards, children report a sense of ‘not belonging’ to recognised ‘children’s places’ such as playgrounds. Young adolescents report being actively excluded from public and private spaces. The effects of this exclusion are examined in relation to their sense of belonging, identity, and well-being.

Conclusions:

Exclusionary practices appear to be increasing and impacting on younger children in both private and public spaces. This forced exclusion of children and adolescents from the public and private realm challenges their sense of belonging or connectedness which is associated with low self-esteem, high levels of anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation. A more inclusive, rights-based approach should be employed in all aspects of public realm design that actively seeks and incorporates the views of children and adolescents as well as the more dominant voice of the adult.

Keywords

Adolescentsbelongingconnectednessexclusionpublic and private realm
Type
Original Research
Information
Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine , Volume 39 , Issue 2: Themed Issue: Psychiatric Anthropology , June 2022 , pp. 155 - 162
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The College of Psychiatrists of Ireland

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bailey, M, McLaren, S (2005). Physical activity alone and with others as predictors of sense of belonging and mental health in retirees. Aging and Mental Health 9, 82–90.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baldwin, W. (2011). Creating “Safe spaces” for adolescent girls. promoting healthy, safe, and productive transitions to adulthood. Brief no. 39 (https://www.popcouncil.org/uploads/pdfs/TABriefs/39_SafeSpaces.pdf)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barron, C (2013). Physical activity play in local housing estates and child wellness in Ireland. International Journal of Play 2, 220–236.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barron, C (2014). ‘I had no credit to ring you back’: Children’s strategies of negotiation and resistance to parental surveillance via mobile phones. Surveillance & Society 12, 401–413. http://www.surveillance-and-society.org. ISSN: 1477–7487.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barron, C, Beckett, A, Cannon-Jones, N, Coussens, M, Desoete, A, Fenney, D, Lynch, H, Prellwitz, M (2017). Barriers to Play and Recreation for Children and Young People with Disabilities. De Gruyter Open. LUDI. COST European Cooperation in Science and Technology.Google Scholar
Barron, C, Emmett, MJ (2020). Back gardens and friends: the impact of COVID-19 on children and adolescents use of, and access to, outdoor spaces. Irish Geography 53, 173–177. doi: 10.2014/igj.v53i2.1422 Google Scholar
Baumeister, RF, Leary, MR (1995). The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 117, 497–529.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Braun, V, Clarke, V (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology 3, 77–101. doi: 10.1191/1478088706qp063oa CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brussoni, MR, Gibbons, C, Gray, T, Ishikawa, EBH, Sandseter, A, Bienenstock, G, Chabot, G, Fuselli, P, Herrington, S, Janssen, I, Pickett, W, Power, M, Stanger, N, Sampson, M, Tremblay, MS (2015). What is the relationship between risky outdoor play and health in children? A systematic review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 12, 6423–6454. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph120606423 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Burke, C (2005). “Play in focus”. Children researching their own spaces and places for play. Children, Youth and Environment 15, 27–53.Google Scholar
Central Statistics Office (2017). Census 2016 Summary Results – Part 1. Dublin: Central Statistics Office. Google Scholar
Childress, H (2004). Teenagers, territory and the appropriation of space. Childhood 11, 195–205. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chiodellia, F, Moronib, S (2015). Do malls contribute to the privatisation of public space and the erosion of the public sphere? Reconsidering the role of shopping centres. City, Culture and Society 6, 35–42 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccs.2014.12.002 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christensen, P, O’Brien, M (2003). Children in the City: Home, Neighbourhood and Community. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, A, Moss, P (2011). Listening To Young Children: The Mosaic Approach (2nd ed.). London: National Children’s Bureau.Google Scholar
Crane P (2000). Young People and Public Space: Developing inclusive policy and practice. Unpublished paper. (https://eprints.qut.edu.au/3/1/Crane_syij_article.pdf)Google Scholar
Cuba, L, Hummon, DM (1993). A Place to call home: identification with dwelling, community, and region. The Sociological Quarterly 34, 111–131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Downey, S, Hayes, N, O’Neill, B (2007). Play and Technology for Children Aged 4–12. Dublin: Office of the Minister for Children.Google Scholar
France, A, Wiles, P (1998). Dangerous futures: Social exclusion and youth work in late modernity. In Crime and Social Exclusion (ed. Finer, C. and Nellis, M.). Blackwell: Oxford.Google Scholar
Freeman, C, Tranter, P. (2011). Children and their Urban Environment: Changing Worlds. London: Earthscan. Google Scholar
Gaster, S. (1991). ‘Urban Children’s Access to their Neighborhood: Changes over Three Generations’, Environment and Behavior 23: 70–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gill, T (2014). The benefits of children’s engagement with nature: a systematic literature review. Children, Youth and Environments 24, 10–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grey, P (2011). The decline of play and the rise of psychopathology in children and adolescents’. American Journal of Play 3, 443–463.Google Scholar
Hart, R (1979). Children’s Experience of Place. New York: Irvington.Google Scholar
Hendrick, H (1997). Constructions and reconstructions of british childhood: an interpretative survey, 1800 to the present. In Constructing and Reconstructing Childhood (ed. James, A. and Prout, A.), pp. 33–60. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Holloway, S, Valentine, G (editors) (2000). Children’s Geographies: Playing, Living, Learning. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Jose, PE, Ryan, N, Pryor, J (2012). Does social connectedness promote a greater sense of well-being in adolescence over time? Journal of Research on Adolescence 22, 235–251.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karsten, L (2011). Children’s social capital in the segregated context of Amsterdam: an historical-geographical approach. Urban Studies 48, 1651–1666.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kerrins, L, Fahey, C, Green, S (2011). All Around the Garden: A Review of Irish Local Government Policy on the Built Environment for Children and Young People in Social Housing. Combat Poverty Agency.Google Scholar
Kilkelly, U (2015). Children and the Outdoors: Contact with The Outdoors and Natural Heritage Among Children Aged 5 to 12: Current Trends, Benefits, Barriers and Research Requirements. Commissioned Report by the Heritage Council.Google Scholar
Kissane, M, McLaren, S (2006). Sense of belonging as a predictor of reasons for living in older adults. Death Studies 30, 243–258.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kohn, M (2004). Brave New Neighbourhoods. The Privatization of Public Space. London and New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Larson, RW (2000). Toward a psychology of positive youth development. American Psychologist 55, 170–183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Larson, RW, Verma, S (1999). How children and adolescents spend time across the world: Work, play, and developmental opportunities. Psychological Bulletin 125, 701–736.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Layard, R, Dunn, J (2009). A Good Childhood: Searching for Values in a Competitive age. The Children’s Society. London: Penguin.Google Scholar
Lee, R, Robbins, S (1998). The relationship between social connectedness and anxiety, self-esteem, and social identity. Journal of Counselling Psychology 45, 338–345.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lester, S, Maudsley, M (2007). Play, Naturally. London: National Children’s Bureau.Google Scholar
Low, SM (2006). The erosion of public space and the public realm: paranoia, surveillance and the privatization in New York City. City and Society, Journal of the Society for Urban Anthropology 18: 43–49.Google Scholar
Matthews, H, Taylor, M, Sherwood, K, Tucker, F, Limb, M (2000). Growing-up in the Countryside: children and the Rural Idyll. Journal of Rural Studies 16, 141–153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCallum, C, McLaren, S (2010). Sense of belonging and depressive symptoms among GLB adolescents’. Journal of Homosexuality 58, 83–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morrow, V (2001). Using qualitative methods to Elicit young people’s perspectives on their environments: some ideas from community health initiatives. Heath Education Research 16, 225–268.Google ScholarPubMed
Muñoz, SA (2009). Children in the Outdoors A Literature Review. Scotland: Sustainable Development Research Centre.Google Scholar
Nic Gabhainn, S, Sixsmith, J (2006). Children photographing well-being: facilitating participation in research. Children and Society 20, 249–259.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nordstrom, M (2003). Children and open spaces in the city: accessibility, use and influence – phase two of the project (http://www2.humangeo.su.se/staff/MariaNordstrom/bipis2.pdf)Google Scholar
O’ Neill, M (2002). Youth curfews in the United States: the creation of public spheres for some young people. Journal of Youth Studies 5, 49–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’Connell, C, O’Sullivan, S, Byrne, L (2015). Children’s Voices in Housing Estate Regeneration. Dublin Government Publications.Google Scholar
Ploner, J, Jones, L (2020). Learning to belong? ‘Culture’ and ‘place making’ among children and young people in Hull, UK City of Culture 2017. Children’s Geographies 18, 269–282. doi: 10.1080/14733285.2019.1634245 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pretty, J (2007). The Earth Only Endures: On Reconnecting with Nature and Our Place In It. London: Earthscan.Google Scholar
Qvortrup, J (1993). Nine Theses About “Childhood as a Social Phenomenon”: – An Introduction to a Series of National Reports". Vienna, Austria: European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research.Google Scholar
Rasmussen, K (2004). Places for children – children’s places. Childhood 11, 155–173.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Resnick, MD, Bearman, PS, Blum, RW, Bauman, KE, Harris, KM, Jones, J, Tabor, J, Beuhring, T, Sieving, RE, Shew, M, Ireland, M, Bearinger, LH, Richard Udry, J (1997). Protecting adolescents from harm. Findings from the National longitudinal study on adolescent health. Journal of the American Medical Association, 278 (10), 823–832.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rooney, T (2010). Trusting children: How do surveillance technologies alter a child’s experience of trust, risk and responsibility? Surveillance and Society 7, 344–355.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schaefer-McDaniel, NJ (2004). Conceptualizing social capital among young people: towards a new theory. Children, Youth and Environments 14, 153–172.Google Scholar
Skelton, T, Valentine, G (1998). Cool Places: Geographies of Youth Cultures. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Sobel, S (1998). Mapmaking with children: sense of place education for the elementary years. Portsmouth, NH: Heineman.Google Scholar
Tay-Lim, J, Lim, S (2013). Privileging younger children’s voices in research: use of drawings and a co-construction process. International Journal of Qualitative Methods 12, 65–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Travlou, P, Eubanks Owens, P, Ward Thompson, C, Maxwell, L (2008). Place mapping with teenagers: locating their territories and documenting their experience of the public realm, Children’s Geographies 6, 309–326.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tuan, YF (1977). Space and Place: The Perspectives of Experience. Minneapolis: University of Minneapolis Press.Google Scholar
Turner, V (1964). Betwixt and between: the liminal period in ‘Rites de Passage.’ In The Proceedings of the American Ethnological Society Symposium on New Approaches to the Study of Religion (ed. Helm), J., pp. 46–55. Seattle: American Ethnological Society.Google Scholar
United Nations (1989). United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989. Genova. UNCRC.Google Scholar
Valentine, G (1997). A safe place to grow up? Parenting, perceptions of children’s safety and the Rural Idyll. Journal of Rural Studies 13, 137–148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Gennep, A (1960). The Rites of Passage, transl. Monika B. Vizedom and Gabrielle L. Caffee. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Verhoeven, M, Poorthuis, AMG, Volman, M (2019). The role of school in adolescents’ identity development. A literature review. Educational Psychology Review 31, 35–63. https://doi-org.dcu.idm.oclc.org/10.1007/s10648-018-9457-3 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
WHO (2017). Global Accelerated Action for the Health of Adolescents’ (AA-HA!): Guidance to Support Country Implementation. Geneva: World Health Organization. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGOGoogle Scholar