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Mom or Dad Says I Shouldn’t

Supervised and Unsupervised Children’s Knowledge of Their Parents’ Rules for Home Safety

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Readings in Pediatric Psychology

Abstract

An increasingly large number of children spend some portion of the day without adult supervision (Belsky & Steinberg, 1978) as an expanding number of primary caretakers join the work force each year. These children are often referred to as “latchkey children” because of the latchkeys they often wear on a chain or carry to let themselves into their homes after school, several hours before their parents return home from work (Garbarino & Sherman, 1980). There is increasing evidence that such children, left at home without adult supervision, experience a greater risk of accidents (Tokuhata, Colflesh, Digon, & Mann, 1972) which are the number one killer of young children (Gratz, 1979). In addition, there are emotional and motivational problems inherent in being unsupervised (Elkind, 1981).

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© 1993 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Peterson, L., Mori, L., Scissors, C. (1993). Mom or Dad Says I Shouldn’t. In: Roberts, M.C., Koocher, G.P., Routh, D.K., Willis, D.J. (eds) Readings in Pediatric Psychology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-1248-0_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-1248-0_12

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-306-44423-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4899-1248-0

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