If parents perceive the neighborhood as child friendly, they will allow their children more independent travel and play. Parental perception of child friendliness is therefore an important prerequisite for designing neighborhoods that promote children's health and wellbeing. However, there is currently no comprehensive and practical instrument to measure it. This study develops and empirically validates a measurement instrument for parental perception of child friendliness in neighborhoods. Survey data was collected from 309 parents in the Netherlands. The data was randomly divided into a calibration (n = 155) and a validation sample (n = 154). The factorial validity of parental perception of child friendliness in neighborhoods was examined using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The construct validity was tested by using structural equation modelling (SEM) of assumed relationships between parental perception of child friendliness in neighborhoods and variables influencing this perception (antecedents) and children's physical activity (consequence). Overall, the results provided good reliability and validity for the instrument. This instrument does not only offer a practical tool; it also provides practical guidelines for designing child-friendly neighborhoods as perceived by parents. It suggests that measures, such as providing green spaces, care facilities and recreation facilities, can enhance child friendliness of neighborhoods as perceived by parents.
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Parents who grew up without digital monitoring have a plethora of parental monitoring opportunities at their disposal. While they can engage in surveillance practices to safeguard their children, they also have to balance freedom against control. This research is based on in-depth interviews with eleven early adolescents and eleven parents to investigate everyday negotiations of parental monitoring. Parental monitoring is presented as a form of lateral surveillance because it entails parents engaging in surveillance practices to monitor their children. The results indicate that some parents are motivated to use digital monitoring tools to safeguard and guide their children, while others refrain from surveillance practices to prioritise freedom and trust. The most common forms of surveillance are location tracking and the monitoring of digital behaviour and screen time. Moreover, we provide unique insights into the use of student tracking systems as an impactful form of control. Early adolescents negotiate these parental monitoring practices, with responses ranging from acceptance to active forms of resistance. Some children also monitor their parents, showcasing a reciprocal form of lateral surveillance. In all families, monitoring practices are negotiated in open conversations that also foster digital resilience. This study shows that the concepts of parental monitoring and lateral surveillance fall short in grasping the reciprocal character of monitoring and the power dynamics in parent-child relations. We therefore propose that monitoring practices in families can best be understood as family surveillance, providing a novel concept to understand how surveillance is embedded in contemporary media practices among interconnected family members.
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A key element in social development is interaction with others, and preterm infants have an increased risk for problems in this aspect. We aimed to gain additional insight into parents’ perception about their preterm child’s social interaction upon reaching school age. Parents informed us about their child being a little fighter, having issues of coping with their disabilities in social contexts, and how their child withdraws from situations that are overlystimulating. They also expressed their concerns about the future, how they encourage their child, and how they experience the transition to primary school. Parents’ experiences concerning the social interaction of their preterm child can be categorized into eight themes of processes in social interaction: child factors, self-regulation, real-time social interaction, long-term social interaction, parental factors, parenting, social environment, and social experiences. Our proposed model of social interaction in preterm infants visualizes theinterrelatedness between these themes in social interaction
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