Building trust in children
| DOI | 10.1177/0269758016672373 |
| Published date | 01 January 2017 |
| Author | Nicole E Rader |
| Date | 01 January 2017 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
Building trust in children:
How parents talk to children
about safety precautions
in Sweden
Nicole E Rader
Mississippi State University, USA
Abstract
Previous fear of crime studies have rarely considered how fear of crime is learned or the mes-
sengers who teach fear of crime to others. This is especially important with children, who often
learn about the world from social influences such as parents and teachers. While some work has
been done on children’s fear of crime, this work lacks a consideration of the messages parents give
children. Further, this research has been restricted to countries such as the US and England. The
current research focuses on a country rarely considered in the fear of crime literature – Sweden.
In-depth interviews with 14 parents and 10 children are consulted to determine how parents talk
to children about safety and what children hear when receiving such messages. Thus, the interplay
between parents and their children in the social learning process of safety precautions are
considered.
Keywords
Fear of crime, children, socialization, Sweden, qualitative
Introduction
Previous studies in fear of crime have focused primarily on individual fear of crime levels and the
factors that predict one’s fear of crime (Warr and Ellison, 2000). A smaller body of literature has
focused on fear of crime for others and these findings suggest that parents fear for their children
(De Groof, 2008; Warr and Ellison, 2000). While this research has been informative, it has been
sparse in its consideration of the understanding of the transmission of fear of crime from parent to
Corresponding author:
Nicole E Rader, Department of Sociology, Mississippi State University, PO Box C, Mississippi State University, MS 39762,
USA.
Email: nrader@deanas.msstate.edu
International Review of Victimology
2017, Vol. 23(1) 3–16
ªThe Author(s) 2016
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DOI: 10.1177/0269758016672373
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