Children and adolescents' perceptions of childhood neglect: Content and thematic analyses of childline message boards

BACKGROUND: Neglect is the most common form of child maltreatment. Its detrimental impact on individuals' physical, psychological, and social functioning is felt by the whole of society. Despite being neglect's subjects, children are only recently included in its research.

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to improve understanding of neglect by exploring how children and adolescents talk to peers about neglect-related issues.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: Childline is a free, 24-hour UK service that hosts anonymous online message boards. Following consultations with a Young People's Advisory Group, 322 threads to Childline's message boards containing posts from 675 children and adolescents were analysed. Disclosed ages (n = 139) ranged from 10 to 18 years (M = 14.24, SD = 1.84); of 325 that disclosed gender, 259 (79.7 %) identified as girls, 65 (20 %) as boys, and 1 (0.3 %) as non-binary.

METHODS: A non-reactive research design was used, as data was naturally occurring and publicly available. An inductive thematic analysis captured children and adolescents' views, and content analysis assessed the prevalence of different experiences.

RESULTS: Five superordinate themes were developed: definitions, experiences, causes, outcomes and disclosures of neglect. Children and adolescents emphasized the importance of love, especially relative to that shown to siblings and parental partners, and of outcomes of neglect, including interpersonal difficulties, depression, and suicide ideation. Help-seeking was hindered by fear - of angering parents/caregivers; going into care; and not being believed.

CONCLUSIONS: Greater consideration needs to be paid to the emphasis that children and adolescents' place on emotional rather than physical neglect, plus their need for a safe space to seek support.