Problematizing "Home Alone" Cross-Culturally

Around the world, children spend time unsupervised by adults. Both positive and negative outcomes may ensue for children and families. Large household surveys in low- and middle-income countries often use the term home alone to investigate instances when children are “alone” or “supervised by another young child” in very different settings, drawing conclusions and comparisons which may be problematic. The extent and consequences of the home alone phenomenon vary, partly (we argue) due to different understandings of what being home alone means in different contexts. The perspectives of children are often not captured either, further hindering the interpretation and utilization of results.

We conducted participatory workshops with 127 boys and girls aged 6-10 years in rural and urban settings in the Northern and Eastern regions of Ghana (n=63) and in Luang Namtha and Vientiane provinces of Laos (n=64). Through dialogue and visual methods (i.e., community mapping and the Participatory-Photography Assessment Tool (P-PAT) (Ruiz-Casares, et al., 2013)), we explored children’s understandings and experiences home alone. Children’s views largely reflected time spent with siblings and peers and mobility within the community, thus raising questions about isolation and other common elements of home alone in Western contexts. Positive and negative feelings about supervision emerged from supervisors and supervisees. Appreciation for children’s caring roles and concerns about safety and wellbeing in the community coexisted with disclosure of violence and disregard from siblings. Critically engaging with the concept of home alone across different cultural contexts is crucial to ensure that research and measurement tools are both relevant and accurate, capturing variations across cultures and urban/rural planning. In line with theories around care, agency, and childhood as a social construction, this paper will present findings from our study and explore the potential and limitations of this approach.