TY - JOUR
T1 - Context as a critical factor in young adolescents’ concepts of caring
AU - Ferreira, Maria M.
AU - Bosworth, Kris
N1 - Funding Information:
The second concentric circle represents the intimate circle of those closest to self (family and close friends). As with barriers to caring for self, halfofthe students did not perceive any barriers to caring for their close friends and family, as their responses of"nothing"indicate. Agreaterpercentage of students at Urban than at Suburban gave this response, however (50% vs. 38%). This finding was surprising given that observations indicated that more fights occurred among the students at Urban than atSuburban. Itispossiblethatthegreater violence at Urban led to stronger friendships among some students. Another explanation could be the larger number of African American students at Urban Middle School. Tuma and Hallinan (1979) found that African American children formed friends more rapidly and had more stable friendships than did European American children. Others (Kerner & Aboud, 1998) found "reliable alliance" to be more important for "black" than for "white" children. These findings suggest that friendships among African American students may be more important to the social support system of African American students than for European American students. This contention is also supported by the responses under reciprocal caring, the next largest category in this domain. A greater percentage of students at Suburban (25%) than at Urban (11%) gave responses related to reciprocal caring.
PY - 2000/12
Y1 - 2000/12
N2 - The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which context played a role in young adolescents’ descriptions of barriers to caring in four domains: self, intimate others (close friends and family), acquaintances (people in school), and strangers. Interviews with 101 students at two middle schools (an urban and a suburban) in the Midwest, as well as participant observations, indicate that the manner in which young adolescents talk about caring is highly contextual. The “context” identified in the students' responses was the nature of their relationship to the cared-for. Consequently, even though the majority of the students responded that “nothing” would stop them from caring for themselves or for their close friends and family, lack of reciprocity was the major barrier to caring for people in school, while fear of violence was identified as the main barrier to caring for strangers. The authors recommend that schools strive to develop caring communities in which an ethic of caring is nurtured at all levels.
AB - The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which context played a role in young adolescents’ descriptions of barriers to caring in four domains: self, intimate others (close friends and family), acquaintances (people in school), and strangers. Interviews with 101 students at two middle schools (an urban and a suburban) in the Midwest, as well as participant observations, indicate that the manner in which young adolescents talk about caring is highly contextual. The “context” identified in the students' responses was the nature of their relationship to the cared-for. Consequently, even though the majority of the students responded that “nothing” would stop them from caring for themselves or for their close friends and family, lack of reciprocity was the major barrier to caring for people in school, while fear of violence was identified as the main barrier to caring for strangers. The authors recommend that schools strive to develop caring communities in which an ethic of caring is nurtured at all levels.
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U2 - 10.1080/02568540009594780
DO - 10.1080/02568540009594780
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85009577252
SN - 0256-8543
VL - 15
SP - 117
EP - 128
JO - Journal of Research in Childhood Education
JF - Journal of Research in Childhood Education
IS - 1
ER -