Discussion
Having or perceiving their own agency - displayed in their capacity to exert some sort of control over their own life and their surrounding environment - was delineated as a crucial component in enhancing children’s well-being and in developing strategies to cope with their unpredictable contexts. Moreover, the model that emerges from our findings visually highlights the dialectic relationship between children’s agency and the fields of social and environmental structures in which their lives are embedded (see Figure 3).
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On the one hand, spatial, political, relational, and material factors shapes the lives of the children, providing or reducing their opportunities to access resources and ‘thinning’ their agency (Klocker, 2007; Moen, 2013). On the other hand, children’s agency was strongly reflected in the fact that such violent experiences and adverse living condition – as well as such structural influences – were not enough to stop them from finding creative strategies to both survive and imagine a better future.
Safety has been identified as one of the most important domains of children’s well-being and of their general quality of life. Yet, children’s sense of agency emerged as strictly related to the opportunity to experience safety, which enables them to act autonomously (Fattore, Mason, & Watson, 2009; Stecknermeier, 2019). Therefore, if one the one hand, feelings of insecurity and vulnerability were discussed as crucial limitations of children’s ability to act, on the other, participants showed themselves to be actively engaged in developing new strategies in order to challenge those limitations.
Moreover, children’s narratives evidenced how their lives are embedded in familial and communal networks, which play a pivotal role in providing opportunities to develop competencies in order to better cope with adversity (Seymour, 2012). Indeed, children’s ability to act emerged as strongly linked to their web of social relations, evidencing the relational dimension of children’s agency (Bell & Payne, 2009). Children stressed the importance of spending time with friends and family to experience emotional support and share negative feelings, which helps to manage the deleterious impacts of their violent circumstances (Barber, 2001; Veronese et al., 2018). Feeling connected to, and thus protected by, their family and community provides the children with a secure base, sustaining their relationships with both people and the place itself and enabling them to autonomously navigate their environment (Akesson, 2014; Veronese et al., 2020).
Subsequently, the importance of being able to freely move around their environment and having access to places specifically dedicated for children vividly emerged in this study. As a precondition to feeling happy and enjoying their lives despite their adverse conditions, children mentioned the need to autonomously explore their environment and to feel free from constrains (Fattore et al., 2009). Restrictions on their mobility denied them access to various resources, reducing their ability to develop strategies and to benefit from relational support. Similarly, the lack of play-areas was limiting children’s opportunities to engage in leisure activities. However, in confronting both of these restrictions, children did not react with passivity or resignation. Participants displayed different strategies in order to circumnavigate those obstacles and improve the quality of their free time.
Education, national identity, and spirituality were also mentioned as powerful enhancers of children’s agency. Being able to access their schools provided children with the opportunity of a safe place through which to engage in activities of learning, playing, and socializing. Indeed, school restores a sense of routine and normalcy in children’s lives, which enhance their abilities to cope with their adverse situation (Shalhoub-Kevorkian, 2006; Veronese & Cavazzoni, 2019). On the other hand, children’s actively described their willingness to further their education as a means to strengthen their abilities, improve the situation of their family and their community, and as a way to learn their rights in order to challenge both the occupation and the male-dominated societal and cultural norms that they regularly face. Besides school, children revealed the importance of both national identity and spirituality as crucial enhancers of feelings of validation, pride, safety, and hope for the future (Hammad, 2011; Peteet, 2005). Children highlighted the importance of Islam in teaching and providing them with positive values, behavioral and moral guidelines, as well as a purpose in life, which supports them when having to face an adverse and dangerous environment (Salas-Wright, Olate, & Vaughn, 2013; Wessells & Strang, 2006). Indeed, children’s narratives challenged the Western idea of children who endorse Islamic idioms being potentially radical and violent. Instead, our findings corroborate other studies that have suggested that religiosity carries with it narratives of redemption, forgiveness, and freedom, rather than revenge and violence (Habashi, 2011; 2013; Veronese et al., 2017).
Finally, studies concerning children living in contexts of war and conflict highlight the importance of recognizing children’s agency also as emerging out of the cultural and political discourse (Habashi & Worley, 2009). In our findings, the immediate environment – such as street, walls, or fences – emerged as an important medium through which to access information and it was often used by children to improve their historical and political awareness. Being able to signify an otherwise perturbing event helps individuals to contextualize their situation, which reduces the impact of trauma and enables the mobilization of resources to deal with it (Garbarino, 2014; Veronese et al., 2018). By actively reading the signs of their complex surroundings, children’s narratives also testified to their ability to understand the relationship between the history of previous generations and their own present situation. As outlined by Barber (2008), being able to locate yourself within a historical and political context while also identifying a collective purpose – we will return to our lands(M, 13-years-old, Dheisheh camp) – powerfully helps in withstanding the hardship experienced as a result of the occupation.