ARAB YOUTHS’ EXPECTATIONS OF PARENTS AND PERCEPTIONS OF CHILD NEGLECT

Abstract

"Neglect of children and youth by their parents severely affects children’s development. Unfortunately, literature on child neglect focuses on professional discourse while rarely examining the views of children and youth themselves. This lacuna is interwoven with the broader issue of children’s expectations of their parents, which are also scarcely studied. This study aims to gain a more nuanced understanding of youth life experiences, focusing on two related and complementary issues: their expectations of parents and their perceptions of child neglect. The study employed a qualitative paradigm focusing on the meanings and interpretation of social phenomena and social processes in context. Data were gathered via focus group discussions from a total of 31 youth, through purposive sampling according to age (13 and 14) and ethnic affiliation (Muslim Arabs in northern Israel), and thematically analyzed. The data analysis showed that youth expectations of their parents reflect their perceptions of neglect. Four themes arose: emotional wellbeing, responsibility and supervision, guidance and companionship, and providing material needs. The findings highlight the need to include voices representing diverse groups in the population, as part of context-informed perception in discourses of parenting and child neglect. These voices provide a platform for examining the complexity inherent in negotiating neglect in the unique context of youth, and the importance of recognizing their unique perceptions. The voices raised the importance of emotional and psychological needs for the youths’ wellbeing and development to a greater extent than material and physical needs."