How Children in Germany Experience Refugees: A Contribution From Childhood Studies

This paper deals with perceptions, encounters and experiences of children with refugees and refugee children in Germany. It is based on the Fourth World Vision Children Study, which is regularly conducted in Germany since 2007. The study is based on a representative survey among 6- to 11-year-old children, which was combined with qualitative case studies and focuses on children´s well-being, their fears, their concerns as well as their attitudes toward other societal groups and contemporary political issues. For the survey of the Fourth World Vision Children Study, in the questionnaire there were also items included which should allow collecting data on children´s encounters and experiences with refugees, and particularly refugees who are their peers. This paper presents the approach taken in the study and how it is embedded conceptually in childhood studies before reporting and discussing selected findings on the experiences of children in Germany with refugees in their neighbourhood and among their peers. The findings presented in this paper refer to contact as well as interactions and opportunities for establishing friendships between refugee and non-refugee children. This is followed by a discussion of the implications these findings have in terms of consequences for supporting refugee children when arriving at Germany. In the conclusion, we will finally point out the implications of our study for the broader field of childhood studies in social sciences.