Childhood vulnerability and children’s understandings of well-being
Swiss childhood study as part of the worldwide research on “Children’s Understandings of Well-Being – Global and Local Contexts” (cuwb.org)
Result
Presentation of results
As part of the event series "Um 6 im Kreis 5", we will be presenting the results of the study on 4 March 2025 from 18-19h at the ZHAW Campus Toni-Areal, Room 3.K01.
Children experience and understand well-being in many ways and in very different situations. From a child's perspective, reliable, supportive relationships, friendships, a sense of belonging, safety and security, social participation, spaces for retreat and protection, access to digital spaces and protection from violence are important.
Vulnerability, understood as the potential to be harmed by ‘social exposure’, encompasses more than just violence. Many young people report experiences of insafety, sometimes being secure but feeling unsafe; as well as a lack of belonging as sense of belonging but also longing for belonging; or limited agency that put them in vulnerable situations and positions.
Description
All people are vulnerable, but vulnerability is unequally distributed - some people are more vulnerable than others. What this means for children and youth and how they understand well-being is the goal of the qualitative SNF research project.
Background
Social work often deals with children and youth who are particularly vulnerable or have already been hurt. Yet few studies ask children themselves about their understanding of well-being and vulnerability. This obscures not only the diversity of childhoods, but also of life chances and opportunities to participate in society. Therefore, it is crucial to examine inequality factors and conditions of vulnerability, which are also reflected in concepts of well-being (see Andresen 2013; Bohne/Hunner-Kreisel 2016; Hunner-Kreisel/Kuhn 2010; Hunner-Kreisel/March 2018).The current state of research on childhood vulnerability points to societal, generational, institutional, and biographical conditions of vulnerability (cf. Pomey 2017, Pomey 2022 in ed.). It is now important to find out how childhood vulnerability is intertwined with the phenomenon of well-being. A sound understanding of vulnerability as well as of well-being - especially from the perspective of children and adolescents - is central to a social work that wants to protect and promote them. Taking children and young people's perspectives seriously means asking them how they understand and experience well-being, what is important for their well-being, and what makes them vulnerable.
Goals
The goal of the project, which is scheduled to run for at least four years (2021-2024), is to examine the perspective of children and adolescents in Switzerland who grow up in unequally precarious life situations. In other words, to interview children and adolescents who have had different biographical experiences of vulnerability about their views and experiences of well-being and vulnerability and to find out whether and to what extent their perspectives are the same or different.
Methods
The study chooses a socio-pedagogical and childhood-theoretical approach and is particularly interested in the field of child and youth welfare. Therefore, children and adolescents between 8-14 years of age in different service structures (youth clubs, community centers, day care structures, residential care) are recruited and invited to present their point of view using a variety of research methods. In addition to verbal data (interviews and focus groups), visual data (photographs, drawings, maps) will be collected and analyzed. The Swiss research project is supported by the professional association Integras and is located in three language regions (Romandie, Ticino and German-speaking Switzerland) and is part of the worldwide research network on "Children's Understandings of Well-Being - Global and Local Contexts" (www.cuwb.org), in which more than 25 countries are involved (see Fattore/Fegter/Hunner-Kreisel 2021). The project is situated within the framework of international comparative qualitative studies that aim to examine how children understand well-being in a locally oriented, culturally contextualized, and multinational comparative manner
Key Data
Projectlead
Project team
Debora D’Alessandri, Julia Kühn, kein Titel Michele Pizzera, Carina Pohl, Julia Rohrbach, Prof. Daniel Stoecklin (Université de Genève )
Project partners
Université de Genève; INTEGRAS Fachverband Sozial- und Sonderpädagogik
Project status
ongoing, started 12/2020
Funding partner
SNF-Projektförderung / Projekt Nr. 188804
Project budget
384'000 CHF
Further documents and links
Publications
-
Krisen und Verletzlichkeit aus Perspektive von Kindern und Jugendlichen
2024 Pohl, Carina; Pomey, Marion
-
Un-/sichere Orte : Perspektiven von Kindern und Jugendlichen in der stationären Kinder- und Jugendhilfe
2024 Pohl, Carina
-
Balance of power in interviews with children : how to deal with generational order and other ethical challenges
2024 Pohl, Carina
-
Generation «No Future»? Sicherheit vermitteln in einer fragilen Welt : Abschlusskommentar
2024 Pohl, Carina
-
Forschungsethische Reflexionen zu Kindeswohlgefährdung
2023 Pomey, Marion; Pohl, Carina
-
Vulnerabilität und Wohlbefinden in der Kindheit
2023 Pomey, Marion; Pohl, Carina
-
Digitale Vulnerabilität : digitale Medien im stationären Kontext
2023 Pomey, Marion; Pizzera, Michele
-
Wohlbefinden und Verletzlichkeit von Kindern und Jugendlichen im Digitalen
2023 Pomey, Marion; Pizzera, Michele
-
Verletzlichkeit & Wohlbefinden von Kindern und Jugendlichen
2023 Pomey, Marion
-
Social justice and children’s well-being in out-of-home care settings : children in residential care in Switzerland
2023 Pohl, Carina; Pomey, Marion
-
Recognising the needs of understudied groups in out of home care : understanding the perspective of children on safety in residential care
2023 Pohl, Carina
-
Das Heim als (un-)sicherer Ort – Perspektiven von Kindern auf das Leben in der stationären Kinder- und Jugendhilfe
2023 Pohl, Carina
-
Digital childhood : how digital media shapes well-being of children in residential care
2023 Pizzera, Michele; Pomey, Marion
-
Wie geht es Kindern und Jugendlichen im Heim?
2022 Pomey, Marion; Pohl, Carina
-
Das Wohlbefinden von Kindern in der Kinder- und Jugendhilfe
2022 Pomey, Marion; Pizzera, Michele
-
On the reproduction of the generational order in childhood research
2022 Pohl, Carina
-
Children’s understandings of vulnerability and well-being
2021 Pohl, Carina; Pomey, Marion
-
Precarious moments of well-being
2021 Pohl, Carina; Pomey, Marion
-
(Un-)Safety from the perspective of children
2021 Pohl, Carina
-
Vulnerability and social programmes – Switzerland
2021 Magyar-Haas, Veronika; Pohl, Carina