1. Objectifs

Intentions :
The authors study «[…] the needs and help-seeking behaviors of young people who are home alone, particularly those using the Internet as a source of support (or to complement other sources of help).» (p. 98)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
Les auteurs utilisent un échantillon de 346 enfants ou adolescents ayant contacté Kids Help Phone (KHP) ou Jeunesse, J’écoute (JJ) pendant une période de 4 semaines durant l’automne 2009.

Instruments :
Questionnaires

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique

3. Résumé

According to the authors, «[s]ome young people are excited by the opportunity to demonstrate their competence and responsibility. However, our findings suggest that many others are in need of supervised settings so they don’t need to be home alone, and others are in need of help when they are at home alone. Parents should be encouraged to determine their children’s level of independence by their maturity and emotional stability, not only their age, and to monitor more closely the children who need supports. Services should include online services, and they should ensure that all children in need of supervised settings have access to them. Such services should be well marketed to families to raise awareness of their availability and carefully designed to ensure the presence of targeted support for those who use the service.» (p. 102) La relation parents-enfant est au cœur de l’étude, en effet, le fait de rester seul à la maison influence la réflexion des enfants sur leur relation avec leurs parents. Par exemple: «[t]he belief that parents do not care was related to the amount of time that the children are left alone.» (p. 99)