An Introduction to Childhood and Youth Studies and Psychology - Notes

  • An Introduction to Childhood and Youth Studies and Psychology is an interdisciplinary book that combines Childhood and Youth Studies with psychology.
  • It explores the concepts and definitions of childhood and youth, showing factors that affect how children are understood and treated, and how they experience the world.
  • Childhood and youth vary across cultures and time periods and are shaped by social and cultural ideas, politics, policies, and economics.
  • The book is designed for students, practitioners, policymakers, and parents interested in how children and young people are understood today.
  • Victoria Cooper specializes in research focused on marginalized children and young people's experiences.
  • Mimi Tatlow-Golden researches fun and argues for dialogue between Childhood and Youth Studies and Psychology.
  • The module 'An introduction to childhood studies and child psychology' (E104) develops theoretical knowledge about children and young people across the world and offers critical perspectives on children’s and young people’s lives in the 21st century. It is designed for anyone working with children and young people or with a general interest in the field.
  • It contains a Reader that introduces students to Psychology and Childhood and Youth Studies separately before combining them in subsequent chapters.
  • By teaching topics such as bodies, the self, families, mental health, education, disability, race, gender, global childhoods, hybrid ‘digital’ childhoods, adolescence, and transitions to adulthood, the Reader highlights the interlinked nature of these topics and their influence on lived experiences.
  • It also introduces different research methods such as experiments, surveys and questionnaires, interviews, and observations and considering their strengths and weaknesses.
  • Furthermore, it addresses the importance of understanding childhood and youth, including development, as a social or cultural construction and stresses the need to look at how cultures, societies, and communities 'construct' a 'good' childhood.
  • It acknowledges that learning about childhood can be sensitive for many people and encourages critical reflection and recognition of children's rights as articulated in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).
  • The Reader emphasizes the importance of exploring children and young people's perspectives and voices in consultation and research.
  • The book acknowledges the importance of language and terminology and strives to use respectful, inclusive, and non-demeaning terms while recognizing that language evolves.
  • It uses currently preferred terms such as global South and global North.