Results
The method adopted allowed us to observe and identify children’s agency
across multiple dimensions and settings (e.g. families, schools,
neighborhoods, peers) and its dynamic interconnection with the
structural forces in which children’s lives are embedded, which can
facilitate or inhibit this exercise of agency. The TCA led to the
identification of eight factors that play a key role in providing - or
reducing - children’s opportunities to exert their own agency (see Table
2) as well as a variety of ways in which children’s capacities and
actions interact with these factors in order to cope with their
surroundings and preserve their functioning and well-being (Figure 3).