A Survey of Self-Supports and Social Supports of Self-Care Children.

Abstract

Some writers (e.g., Campbell & Flake, 1985; Long & Long, 1982), who have focused on children's feelings, indicate that children who are alone after school experience excessive anxiety and are likely to become victims of abuse and engage in antisocial behavior; these children generally are at higher risk for psychosocial problems than are supervised children. Others (e.g., Galambos & Garbarino, 1985; Nulty, 1988; Rodman, Pratto, & Nelson, 1985; Vandell & Corasanili, 1988), focusing on trait rather than state variables, indicate that children alone after school look no different from those with adult supervision on measures of adjustment, self-esteem, and school achievement. Clearly, the levels of measurement and the variables selected yield quite different results and confuse the picture of actual impact of time alone on children who do not have adult supervision. On the assumption of some degree of risk for children in self-care, there is a growing area of activity aimed at maximizing factors that might contribute to positive self-care outcomes. Research on differentiating positive versus negative self-care outcomes points to the value of psychological supports for children. In their absence, parents' actively expressed involvement (along with an authoritative parental style) and monitoring of their children's activities seem to reduce negative self-care outcomes (Steinberg, 1986). The degree to which children are able to rely on what Bryant (1985) has labeled in?rapersonal supports (e.g., involvement with hobbies and personal skill development) contributes to children's social and emotional well-being. Equipping children with survival self-care skills (e.g., cautious phoneanswering and door-answering procedures, and education regarding sources of help) seems to lead to other accepted routes of improving self-care outcomes (Coolsen, Seligson, & Garbarino, 1985). Many formal programs have been developed (e.g., I Can Do It, 1982); some (e.g., I'm in Charge, 1984) include parent/ child planning sessions for the after-school time. All of these self-care child training programs share the common element of attempting to create a sense of competence in the child and, perhaps more importantly, an active awareness of existing supports and concerned in-

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