Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.
The aims of the project were: to examine how children and adolescents (9 to 16 years) 'see the world around them' and how they make use of place. Attention has focussed on the 'fourth environment', those public places beyond the home, school and playground; to consider whether age, sex, ethnicity, family structure, social class and location (inner-urban, urban (suburban), rural) have a bearing upon children's and adolescents' environmental use, access, needs (social, recreational, sporting), aspirations, safety and behaviour and to evaluate the role of parental attitudes/fears towards shaping environmental opportunity in order to uncover the negotiated geography of place; to contribute significantly to the development of appropriate (and novel) methods of studying children's and adolescents' local environmental values, preferences and needs (for example, extensive and intensive surveys, group interviews, in-depth discussion groups, environmental exchanges, environmental videos, environmental diaries, environmental forums); to consider how children and adolescents could become part of the (local) environmental planning process, particularly through long-term structures which both empower young people and encourage an attitude of critical reflection. This part of the project involved 'local' inter-agency co-operation and action with regard both to the identification of 'local' environmental issues relevant to children and adolescents and to the enhancement of 'local' environmental strategies targeted at young people. In addition, the project looked critically and comparatively upon the experiences of countries such as France, Germany, Italy, Philippines and Brazil (known to the project team through direct experience and consultancies) all of which have put in place lasting organisations that facilitate young people's participation; to contribute to the theoretical and conceptual debates on young people as 'outsiders' within society, and ii) 'active' environmental agents capable of participatory citizenship from an early age. Both debates raise issues of empowerment, equal opportunity and equity and are set in the context of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and 'local' Agenda 21. Also, to explore the tensions that arise through changing perceptions of 'public' and 'private' spaces and between the rival pulls of the rights to both freedom and protection. This part of the project was multi-disciplinary in perspective and drew upon cross-national experiences. The Data Archive holds only the quantitative data from the project: the main (doorstep) questionnaire survey, the leisure centre survey, the parents' survey and the shopping centre survey. These surveys were all conducted in Northamptonshire.
Main Topics:
Main questionnaire: gender, age, attitudes to and characteristics of local environment, social life and parental control, local streets, gangs, shopping centres, facilities for young people in local area, sports and sports clubs, clubs and societies, leisure centres, improvements to local environment, social dimensions. Leisure centre survey: gender, address, age, frequency of visit to leisure centre, visit companions, mode of transport, attitude to leisure centre, activities while there, sports participation at leisure centre, perceived benefits of participation, involvement in national sports programmes, ethnic group, household composition. Parents survey: gender, age range, address, residential history, selected child from household and their interaction with local environment, parental controls on child's whereabouts, child's social life, parental advice given to child, any perceived problems or dangers for child in local environment. Shopping centre survey: gender, address, age, frequency of visit to shopping centre, mode of transport, attitude to shopping centre, activities while there, peer groups, favourite shops, expenditure, contact with security and other authority figures at shopping centre, feelings of being 'watched' while at shopping centre, parental knowledge and control, dress customs, ethnic group, household composition.
Quota sample
Face-to-face interview
Self-completion
