Expanding the categorical understanding of children at-risk in the Ukrainian and foreign scientific literature

Abstract

The purpose of the paper is to summarise and present definitions for the terms “risk”, “group of risk”, “at-risk children” used in the modern Ukrainian and foreign scientific literature based on psychological and pedagogical characteristics of at-risk children, thus to provide factors that allow to refer children to the group of risk. Theoretical method of research has given the possibility to generalize the available data and provide the definition to the mentioned above terms. The comparative and empirical methods have allowed the providing of psychological and pedagogical characteristics of at-risk children in different countries. The statistical method has allowed the ascertaining of the risk factors affecting the EU-28, the UK, the US, the Ukrainian child population. Methodology. The survey is based on a comparison of data from: American Community Survey of Family Cumulative Risk Data from 2007; Eurostat (European Union) from 2016; the Department for Education, England from 2016-2017; the Scottish Government from 2015-2016; the Welsh Government from 2015-2016; the Department of Health, Social Services and Public, Northern Ireland from 2016-2017; UNICEF and Ukrainian Institute of Social Researches named after O. Yaremenko from 2011; United Nations from 2013. Results of the survey showed that the term “at-risk” is used to denote a set of apparent cause and effect dynamics that place the child in potential danger of future negative events. “At-risk children” is a collective term that denotes the category of children: whose social status does not have stability by certain signs; who can not overcome the difficulties that arose in their lives as a result of the influence of negative external factors. I