Adultcentrism is the exaggerated egocentrism of adults, including the belief that an adult perspective is inherently better (when compared to that of children). It is used to describe the conditions facing children and youth in schools, homes, and community settings; however, adultcentrism is not always based on a notion of being good or bad, in contrast to adultism.
In social work, adultcentrism has been recognized as the potential bias adults have in understanding and responding to children. This bias is said to extend from the difference in age between the child and the adult. The differences—including language, communication styles and world view—can create a hurdle to overcome. Rather than allowing the adult to simply share their view, adultcentrism acknowledges the powerlessness and inability of young people to actually affect the systems of authority adults have created. This creates barriers to effective practice with children; adultcentrism is said to be akin to egocentrism, where one puts their personal perspectives, needs and beliefs ahead of all others, as well as ethnocentrism, which places a person's cultural and social beliefs ahead of all others. Explaining adultcentrism, one author reports,
Adultcentrism contributes to the ongoing difficulty which agencies experience in incorporating into their modus operandi the practice of routine consultation with children about decisions that affect their lives—even after training and policy development about children's rights and participation has taken place.
In the field of occupational therapy adultcentrism has been said to "lead researchers to underestimate children's abilities." According to one researcher, "This stance can be seen when researchers assume they know everything they need to know about children because they have been children." Research has also shown this leads adults to stay within their own perspective, thus discriminating against children through adultism.
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The youth rights movement (also known as youth liberation) seeks to grant the rights to young people that are traditionally reserved for adults, due to having reached a specific age or sufficient maturity. This is closely akin to the notion of evolving capacities within the children's rights movement, but the youth rights movement differs from the children's rights movement in that the latter places emphasis on the welfare and protection of children through the actions and decisions of adults, while the youth rights movement seeks to grant youth the liberty to make their own decisions autonomously in the ways adults are permitted to, or to lower the legal minimum ages at which such rights are acquired, such as the age of majority and the voting age.
Fear of children, hatred of children, or occasionally called paedophobia, is fear triggered by the presence or thinking of children or infants. It is an emotional state of fear, disdain, aversion, or prejudice toward children or youth. Paedophobia is in some usages identical to ephebiphobia. The fear of children has been diagnosed and treated by psychiatrists, with studies examining the effects of multiple forms of treatment. Studies have identified the fear of children as a factor affecting biological conception in humans.
Youth voice refers to the distinct ideas, opinions, attitudes, knowledge, and actions of young people as a collective body. The term youth voice often groups together a diversity of perspectives and experiences, regardless of backgrounds, identities, and cultural differences. It is frequently associated with the successful application of a variety of youth development activities, including service learning, youth research, and leadership training.