Everyday hassles and related information behaviour among youth: a case study in Taiwan

Introduction. This reported study is a part of a larger project. The research objective considered in the present paper is information behaviour and everyday hassles among youth in Taiwan. Method. The sample consisted of 133 children, including sixty-five girls and sixty-eight boys, in fifthand sixth-grade classrooms in a public elementary school in an urban community in Taiwan. This study employed a semistructured journal adopted from Sorensen's coping research. The journal contained eight questions. Analysis. The aim of this study was description and conceptualization. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses were used to explain and describe the phenomenon. Daily problems were coded and analysed based on established coping research in psychology. In analysing data regarding children's information behaviour and coping, the method of open coding was used because typologies of children's information behaviour and coping were unavailable. Findings. Children in this study reported fifteen categories of everyday hassles and exhibited four different types of related information behaviour. Conclusion. These findings have implications for children's services.