Children Left Alone: Latchkey Problems--Future Research Questions and Interventions

A brief discussion of some myths associated with latchkey children is followed by a statement that an insufficient number of after-school care programs for children makes it likely that children will continue in self-care or sibling care. It is suggested that future research endeavors take the following parental/familial variables into account: family size and structure, socioeconomic status, educational level of parent(s), parental attitudes toward working mothers and children in self-care, and parental expectations of children in self-care. The study of factors related to the child should include examination of the child's ordinal position in the family; self-care versus sibling-care; child's age when first left alone; hours left alone per day; child's sense of self; child care arrangements during vacations, holidays, and illness; child's attitudes towards the parents' job; child's attitude toward self-care, and child's health, including nutritional status, illnesses, school absenteeism, and injuries. The paper ends with a discussion of the role of physicians and teachers in becoming aware of what their patients/students do after school, on holidays, during vacations, and while ill. (AS)