RADICAL: Respect and Disrespect in Children's and Adolescents' Lives

There is a deepening crisis in intergenerational relationships which, alongside a growing concern about children and young people's (CYP) mental health and well-being, may be linked to, or manifest in, everyday interactions between CYP, their peers and other generations. The young co-researchers in our team have linked these to issues of 'respect', 'disrespect' and/or 'lack of respect'. Experiences of giving and getting respect, and experiencing and showing disrespect, will depend, of course, on individual CYP and their circumstances: one set of behaviours may, for example, be a deliberate attempt to be disrespectful (e.g.to a teacher) in order to gain respect of peers (by protesting against a perceived indignity). CYP may interpret certain behaviours of adults, such as bans on entering shops in groups as disrespectful, while others might see this as a necessary business practice. Many adults expect to have the respect of CYP, but not always in ways or for reasons that are understood by them.

Respect is rarely the primary focus of research related to CYP, and research on disrespect is rarer still. In none are CYP involved as co-researchers. Further, and significantly for this project, respect and disrespect have been theorised, defined and researched by adults, often with adults as respondents. In existing research, adults report a lack of respect shown by CYP, and CYP, when asked about their relationships with adults and others, often comment on a lack of respect shown to them.

We have worked from the outset with an advisory group of CYP to determine the focus and design of the research (a radical approach to research in itself), and, in an approach that we consider to be highly innovative in childhood research, will continue to work with them and an advisory group of younger children to develop their own theories of respect and disrespect which will guide the study; contribute to decisions about what will be researched and how it will be carried out; and to understand, publish, distribute and communicate the findings. We will use a variety of methods to enable CYP to develop a theory of respect, and to capture CYP's views, attitudes and lived experience of respect/disrespect/lack of respect. These will include: conducting representative surveys of a large group of children; undertaking participatory research with groups of CYP in 'dialogue hubs', as well as individual narrative interviews with CYP who may experience respect/disrespect in distinctive ways, for example, those with disabilities; who have experience of care or the criminal justice system; who are LGBT+; ethnic minorities; and who have chronic and invisible health conditions. At every stage of the project, we will work with CYP as co-researchers to determine what is asked, how it is asked, and how the findings should be understood, made public and used to improve CYP's experiences.

The study will be based in Northern Ireland, enabling us to harness our extensive networks to collaborate throughout with key stakeholders in government and across the public and voluntary sectors. We will connect CYP to significant adults and decision-makers from a variety of spheres connected to CYP lives including education, social and health care, transport and businesses - groups identified as target stakeholders by our young co-researchers. The approach will break new ground by contributing a child-authored theory of respect and disrespect. It will also trial new methods, and challenge existing assumptions about how children understand and experience respect. The findings will inform local government policy and professional practice with a view to generating improved relationships among CYP and their peers and the adults in their lives. We will, in addition, work with CYP and adult stakeholders to determine the most effective ways of presenting those findings and making them impactful, and will complete the project with an innovative, creative intergenerational showcase.