Adjustment of Unsupervised Children in a Rural Setting

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Abstract
Despite widespread and growing public and professional concern for children who are unsupervised before or after school, only a few empirical studies of such “latchkey” children are available. This study compared the school adjustment, intrinsic versus extrinsic orientation in the classroom, academic achievement, and fear levels of fifth- and seventh-grade supervised and unsupervised children (N = 77) living in a rural community. A multivariate analysis of variance performed on the dependent measures revealed that unsupervised children did not differ significantly from supervised children. These results from a “safe” rural environment contrast significantly with data from “dangerous” urban environments and suggest that future research should examine community settings as mediators in determining potential risks to latchkey children.