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1、HomealoneHowmanykidsarehomealone?AccordingtotheU.S.census,onethirdofallschoolagechildrenintheUnitedStatesare,forsomepartoftheweek,latchkeykids;thatis,theygohometoanemptyhouseorapartment.Thetotalnumbermaybebetweenfiveandsevenmillionchildrenbetweenfiveand13y
2、earsold.MarianWrightEdelman,thedirectoroftheChildren'sDefenseFund,thinksit'scloseto16millionchildren.TheCensusBureaufoundthat15%werehomealonebeforeschool,76%afterschooland9%atnight.Presumably,the9%haveparentswhoworknightshifts.One-halfofallchildreninthecou
3、ntryage12to14arehomealoneanaverageofsevenhoursaweek.TheverypoorinAmericaarelesslikelytoleavetheirchildrenaloneathome,orallowthemtogohomealone,thanfamilieswhoearntwicethepovertyincome.Thisisprobablybecausetheverypoorliveinlesssafeneighborhoods,andhavefewerf
4、riendsorfamilywhocanstepin,incaseofemergency.Inspiteofthehoursspentonthejob,workingmothersspendanaverageoffive-and-a-halfhoursadaywiththeirchildren. Homealone-Whataretheeffects?Whenlatchkeychildrenarefunctioningwell,wedon'thearaboutthem.Butwedohearaboutthe
5、one-thirdofallcomplaintstochildwelfareagencieswhichinvolvelatchkeychildren.Weknowaboutthe51%whoaredoingpoorlyinschool.Mostteachersbelievethatbeingaloneathomeisthenumberonecauseofschoolfailure.Theafternoonhoursarethepeaktimeforjuvenilecrime.Inthelast11years
6、,juvenilecrimehasincreased48%.TheCarnegieCouncilonAdolescentDevelopmentfoundthat8thgraderswhoarealone11hoursaweekaretwiceaslikelytoabusedrugsasadolescentswhoarebusyafterschool.TheCouncilalsofoundthatteenswhohavesexualintercoursedoitintheafternooninthehomeo
7、fboyswhoseparentswork.Unsupervisedchildrenaremorelikelytobecomedepressed,smokecigarettesandmarijuanaanddrinkalcohol.Theyarealsomorelikelytobethevictimsofcrimes.Whenhomealonelatchkeychildrengenerallywatchtelevision,eatsnacks,playwithpetsandfightwithsiblings
8、. Makingthedecision:Whenisachildreadytobehomealone?Personalitycharacteristics,skills,andmaturityareusefulcriteriafordeterminingachild’sreadinesstobehomealone.Personalitydoesn’tgenerallychangemuchwithage,altho
