Practical Interventions for Young People at Risk by Kathryn Geldard

Author:Kathryn Geldard [Geldard, Kathryn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Human Services, Social Work
ISBN: 9781473903197
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Published: 2009-07-09T04:00:00+00:00

The context of fire-setting: cognitive development

The nature and meaning of children’s involvement with fire is, in part, a function of their level of cognitive development. Preschool, or preoperational (Piaget and Inhelder, 1969), children have little capacity to understand cause and effect (Coppens, 1986) and transformations. Consequently, they have little ability to appreciate the danger inherent in even the smallest flame or understand how a small candle, match or lighter flame might become a large fire. In addition, parents often overestimate their children’s ability to understand this risk (Garling and Garling, 1995). Indeed, many common family practices – giving children candles to hold in church and blowing out birthday candles, for example – might actually support the preschool child’s notion that the small candle, match and lighter flames they are so familiar with are not particularly dangerous (Cole et al., 2006).

Primary school, or concrete operational, children do understand cause and effect and transformations, but many overestimate their own ability to control a small fire (Grolnick et al., 1990). This overestimation is enhanced by the concrete operational child’s failure to appreciate the full range of possible outcomes of a small fire suddenly getting out of control (Piaget and Inhelder, 1969). They cannot easily anticipate an outcome that they have not experienced. Grolnick et al. (1990) found that children who felt that they could extinguish a small fire were three times more likely than those who felt unable to extinguish a fire to self-report at least one instance of fire play. This sense of self-control was, in turn, related to greater exposure to household activities involving fire, more supervised experiences with fire, such as building campfires, more responsibility for chores involving fire (such as cooking) and greater access to ignition materials.

The young person, in the stage of formal operations, like the adult, does appreciate the full range of possible outcomes. There are no developmental limitations to the young person’s understanding of the risk of being involved with a fire. The misuse of fire or deliberate fire-setting in this age group is likely to be linked to risktaking or individual or family pathology.

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