Narratives Of Adolescents Research Articles

Meaning-Making Trajectories of Resilience in Narratives of Adolescents with MS

To date few studies deepen the construct of meaning-making at the base on the resilience process for adolescent with multiple sclerosis. Starting from a mixed-method of analysis our aim is to fill the gap in the literature by qualitatively exploring the narrative articulation of meaning-making processes highlighting specificities and differences within groups of narratives with high/medium/low resilience measured through the CYRM-28. We collected 29 narratives. The qualitative analysis shows five meaning-making processes at the base of the resilience process: Dependence vs Autonomy; Reconstruction of the time lines; Integration of limits; Enlarging personal assumptive worldview; Connecting emotions and thought. Compared to narratives with low/high scores, differences were evident in the way such processes were articulated. We propose a framework of central issues in the lives of adolescents with multiple sclerosis and a way to determine how these issues can be useful for developing practices and trajectories to support resilient processes.

Relationship with a physician in the narratives of children and adolescents hospitalized due to cancer

The key value of the physician-patient relationship has been strongly emphasized in scientific literature for a long time. This relationship impacts significantly the patient’s therapeutic process. In case of children and adolescents suffering from cancer, the relationship with physician is of a specific value due to both the age of such patients and the type of disease. Children and adolescents meet various specialists (physicians) during their treatment; however, they establish a long-term and quite intensive relationship with their treating physician. This relationship is, by definition, most important during intensive and maintenance therapy. The physician’s involvement is indisputable and it is directly related to the therapeutic process and its success. However, what is also extremely important is the physician’s interest in a particular patient and a personalized nature of this relationship: treating physician (subject) – child (subject). The manner in which the physician communicates with and treats his or her patient has a significant impact on the patient’s wellbeing during treatment and afterwards. The relationship with a physician also determines the patient’s subjectivity and self-esteem in later everyday life. The paper presents the results of research focused on the opinions of children and adolescents concerning relationships with their treating physicians. The study was conducted in three institutions which belong to the Polish Paediatric Leukaemia and Lymphoma Study Group. It involved 62 children aged 7–17 years old at different stages of their cancer treatment.

The use of evaluative expressions in the narratives of adolescents with a history of SLI

ABSTRACTTypically, young children diagnosed with specific language impairment (SLI; also called Developmental language disorder, DLD) have been found to show weakness in narrative development, and such weakness has been judged to be unlikely to resolve over time. However, developmental outcomes for adolescents with a prior SLI diagnosis have not been thoroughly studied. In particular, studies on the evaluative aspects of narratives of such persons are almost non-existent. Here we examine the question whether narrative evaluation of adolescents formerly diagnosed with SLI remains problematic into adolescence or comes to resemble more typical narrative performance. We compare the use of evaluative expressions in the narratives of 19 adolescents diagnosed with SLI against 19 typically language developing (TLD) peers. Spoken narratives by the SLI group (Mean age = 14.3; SD = 0.64) and TLD group (Mean age = 14.5; SD = 0.84) using the wordless picture storybook “Frog, where are you?” (https://childes.talkbank.org/access/Clinical-MOR/Conti/Conti4.html) were analysed. Each narrative was coded for evaluative clauses, types of evaluative devices (frames of mind, character speech, hedges, negatives, and causal connectives), as well as evaluative perspectives (global vs. local). Although the quantitative analysis did not reveal any significant differences between the two groups, the qualitative analysis showed certain notable strengths in the narrative skills of the focal group of SLI adolescents. Results suggest that adolescents with a history of SLI may approximate TLD narrative skill in evaluating their own narratives, but additional work with more sensitive measures applied at intervals are needed to illuminate developmental pathways of narrative production and of evaluative capacities in adolescents formerly diagnosed with SLI.

Career in the narratives of early adolescents

IIn the paper “Career in the narratives of early adolescents” I set out to describe the selected aspects of constructing an identity during adolescence in the context of prospective professional development among young individuals, who seek to define their future selves. The paper also outlines the social and cultural context of constructing a career, which should potentially be addressed by young individuals long before they enter the labour market. The paper also describes the selected findings of my own concerning career narratives constructed by early adolescents, descriptions of selected career aspects provided by middle school students, and their personal predictions and plans on their prospective life as professionals.

Récits post-traumatiques dans le contexte post-séisme 2010 en Haïti

ObjectivesThis research aims to explore post-traumatic narratives of adolescents and young adult survivors of the January 12, 2010 earthquake in Haiti, more than six years later. It aims to explore long-term consequences of this traumatic event among survivors and analyze their strategies to overcome them. We focus on the survivors subjective understanding of the traumatic experience, taking into account their cultural values and representations, the struggles they face and their coping strategy. MethodsTwo clinical cases from the qualitative phase (N=8) of our work are presented and analyzed. The data were collected in Haiti during June and July 2016, more than 6 years after the earthquake. Based on semi-structured clinical interviews and from a phenomenological perspective we constructed clinical data in the form of life-stories of the survivors with a focus on narrative processes. ResultsThe results show a high level of vulnerability among adolescents and young adult survivors of the earthquake more than six years after. We noticed a several psychological vulnerability factors related to the traumatic event among the survivors such as political unrest and precarious living conditions. Moreover, the analysis of their post-traumatic narratives denotes their ability to find resources to overcome the trauma and recover despite of significant symptoms of PTSD. The results of the quantitative phase that we are not developing in this article showed, for sample of 723 adolescents and young adult survivors, 35.82% of significant symptoms of PTSD, with a higher prevalence for girls and young women. ConclusionsThe analysis of the clinical cases, specially the exploration of the clinical interviews, allowed us to distinguish four categories of cross-sectional analysis for all clinical cases: psychological disturbances ; God as a support for making sense of the event ; identity rearrangements ; and multifactorial resilience with a predominance of school resilience. The results may prove useful for setting up mental health programmes and devising tools appropriate for the youth population in Haiti.

Narrative Production in Arabic-speaking Adolescents with and without Hearing Loss.

The present study investigated oral personal narratives elicited from Arabic speaking adolescents with and without hearing loss. Analyses focused on macrostructure, microstructure, and Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). For macrostructure, narratives were examined for structural components (abstract, orientation, complication, evaluation, resolution, and coda) and narrative patterns: classic (a high point followed by a resolution), high point ending, chronological, and leap frogging (jumps from one event to another). Microstructure included morpho-syntactic errors and complex sentences. MSA features were lexis and syntax. The narratives of adolescents with hearing loss tended to lack an evaluation component (expressing the narrator's perspective), contained more morpho-syntactic errors, fewer complex sentences, and fewer expressions of MSA than narratives of their hearing peers. Findings are discussed in terms of dissociation between macrostructure and microstructure in an attempt to shed light on those features of narrative which might benefit clinicians and educators working with Arabic speaking adolescents with hearing loss.

Native American adolescent narrative written stories of stress.

The purpose of this paper is to report study findings related to themes of stress and coping strategies experienced by non-reservation-based Native American adolescents as expressed by their written stories. A qualitative descriptive narrative approach was used to capture written stories of stress. Key concepts and themes were identified by using the consensual qualitative research (CQR) approach from the participant's stories of stress. Written stories of stress were collected and analyzed from a convenience sample of 179 Native American adolescent's ages 13-18-years old. Five major themes related to experiences of stress emerged from the stories including (a) relationships, (b) responsibilities, (c) socioeconomic status, (d) negative coping strategies, and (e) positive coping through Native-Reliance. The findings reveal the importance of understanding the types and response to stress experienced by Native American adolescents.

Imágenes de profesores para niños y adolescentes: narrativas expresas en el teatro de mamulengos y en cartas

The main objective of this work is to present the conceptions of children and adolescents about the images of the Formal Education and Social Education teachers through theatrical practices and letter writing. Children and adolescents participate in an extension and research project carried out in the Network for the Fight against Cancer of Women that treats people in medical care in the city of Maringa, state of Parana, Brazil. In this institution different Social Education works are carried out, among them, mamulengos theater classes. The methodology of this work was the study of the narratives of children and adolescents with neoplasms through the analysis of expressions in theatrical games and in the writing of the lyrics. The conclusion of this work was that children and adolescents project different images of teachers in different contexts of teaching and learning, giving a more authoritative position to the formal education teacher, relating this characteristic to the demands, the lack of dialogues with their realities and the distancing, between educator and student. In relation to the Social Education professor, they attributed more liberal and flexible images. His stories showed that they prioritize the formation of bonds, fun and creative proposals for education.

Future Orientation in Cultural Transition: Acculturation Strategies of Youth From Three Minority Groups in Israel.

Using adolescents' narratives and survey data presented in earlier studies, we draw upon Berry's model of four acculturation strategies () to examine adolescents' narratives regarding the future orientation domains of education-and-career and marriage-and-family (Seginer, ) by three groups of nonimmigrant minority adolescents in Israel: Muslim, Druze, and ultra-Orthodox Jewish. The narratives of adolescents from the three communities studied here illustrate modified assimilation for education-and-career and separation for marriage-and-family, indicating both cultural transition and continuity. Quantitative analyses mapped domain-specific links from education-and-career and marriage-and-family to adolescents' academic achievement.

Hoe past het? Een kwalitatieve analyse van narratieven van jongeren met een ondersteuningsbehoefte op het gebied van passend onderwijs en passende arbeid

Hoe past het? Een kwalitatieve analyse van narratieven van jongeren met een ondersteuningsbehoefte op het gebied van passend onderwijs en passende arbeid

Twenty-First-Century Feminisms in Children's and Adolescent Literature by Roberta Seelinger Trites

Reviewed by: Twenty-First-Century Feminisms in Children's and Adolescent Literature by Roberta Seelinger Trites Adrienne Kertzer (bio) Twenty-First-Century Feminisms in Children's and Adolescent Literature. By Roberta Seelinger Trites. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2018. Roberta Seelinger Trites begins this volume with a definition of feminism that has much in common with the one that she used in Waking Sleeping Beauty: Feminist Voices in Children's Novels (1997). She also admits that she continues to "believe that most aspects of life are mediated by language and discourse" (xvi). Despite these links to her earlier work, however, Twenty-First-Century Feminisms offers a strikingly different theoretical perspective on children's and adolescent literature. It has much to offer anyone interested in how the principles of material feminism inform various contemporary feminisms and how reading literature for young people through the lens of material feminism can bring into focus similarities between apparently different theoretical approaches. In her introduction, Trites identifies three objectives: "to show how authors . . . are employing various forms of feminism to break down binaries in complex and creative ways" (xii); "to interrogate the ways that material feminism can expand our understanding of materiality, maturation, and gender—especially girlhood—in preadolescent and adolescent narratives" (xxiv); and "to explore how representations of materiality affect the relationship between gender and empowerment in literature for youth" (xxv). In insisting that these objectives should not be regarded as a dismissal of her earlier work, she follows the example of Stacy Alaimo and Susan Hekman, who suggest that material feminists share a desire "to build on rather than abandon the lessons learned in the linguistic turn" (Alaimo and Hekman, "Introduction" 6). Claiming that "feminist theory is at an impasse" because of the mistaken belief "that the real/material is entirely constituted by language" (1, 2), Alaimo and Hekman write that "we need a way to talk about the materiality of the body as itself an active, sometimes recalcitrant, force. Women have bodies. . . . We need a way to talk about these bodies and the materiality they inhabit" (4; orig. emphasis). In the six chapters of Twenty-First-Century Feminisms, Trites responds to this invitation by examining how more than thirty texts offer different ways of talking about bodies and materiality. Trites suggests that while her earlier work "focused on how authors construct gender discursively," she now wants to ask, "Why do they do so?" (xxv; orig. emphasis). However, precisely because literary texts "are always and only discursive," her question—"What pertinence, then, does [End Page 476] material feminism have to the study of children's literature?" (xviii)—is not strictly a "why" question. Rather, it asks how we might understand material feminism as informing the practices of the writers, readers, and scholars who deal with texts. Trites's answer is that whereas the linguistic turn directed attention to epistemology—"how we know what we know" (xvii)—material feminism raises "metaphysical questions of ontology, that is, questions of being and evaluations of what constitutes reality" (xvii–xviii). Acknowledging that her earlier work emphasized "the epistemological at the expense of the ontological," she sees the principles of material feminism as permitting her to explore how texts "engage . . . child readers in ontological questions about how gender intersects with the material world" (xviii). Trites's acknowledgment that "literature is representational" (xviii) exists in productive tension with the perspective of philosopher Karen Barad. Her first chapter, "Becoming, Mattering, and 'Knowing in Being' in Feminist Novels for the Young," provides a detailed introduction to Barad's theories and terminology (and use of italics). Challenging the belief in "the ontological distinction between representations and that which they purport to represent," Barad objects to "Thingification" (Barad 123, 130). To convey that matter is "not a thing, but a doing" (139), she coins the neologism "intra-activity," which "signifies the mutual constitution of entangled agencies" (qtd. in Trites 11). Barad prefers "intra-action" to "interaction" because the latter "presumes the prior existence of independent entities" (Barad 133). When Trites proposes that "children's and adolescent literature offers material feminism . . . the opportunity . . . to concentrate on a stage of life that is largely implicated in processes of becoming" (30), she is clearly invoking Barad...

Between History and Personal Narrative: East European Women's Stories of Migration in the New Millennium—Contributions to Transnational Feminism

Between History and Personal Narrative: East European Women's Stories of Migration in the New Millennium—Contributions to Transnational Feminism

A wave that comes rushing in and dunks you: representations and destinies of the crisis in adolescent users of a CAPSi.

This article focuses on the inter-subjective aspects involved in the care of psychosocial crises of adolescents, their representations and developments. A qualitative research was developed from a psycho-sociological perspective by constructing life story narratives of adolescents treated at a Psychosocial Care Center for Children and Adolescents (CAPSi). It was based on the theoretical contributions of René Kaës on group and cultural aspects of the crisis, as well as its relation to adolescence. Life narratives, constructed through in-depth interviews with adolescents, close relatives, and CAPSi caretakers depict crisis as a "surprise", as violence and estrangement, an episode that must be forgotten, denied, silenced, and medicalized. We concluded that the crisis involves strong mental suffering for adolescents, for the people close to them, and for caretakers, which calls into question the possibilities and limits of care. We, therefore, highlight the importance of protected spaces in both the institution and the health network that would allow the collective construction of new meanings, representations and destinies of crisis, both by users and caretakers.

The development of persistent truant behaviour: an exploratory analysis of adolescents’ perspectives

BackgroundWhile, an extensive literature reveals the many risk factors associated with truancy, less is known about the way truancy develops, intensifies and persists. In recent years, authors have argued that the development of truancy should not be understood as an individual phenomenon, but as a process of complex interactions between the adolescent and his/her parents, peers, teachers and school staff. There is, however, little research on how relationships between these parents, peers, teachers and school staff operate and influence the development of truancy.PurposeIn this paper, we try to fill this gap by analysing the narratives of truanting adolescents, and by investigating their experiences of the onset and persistence of their own truancy.Sample, design and methodsAs part of a larger study, 20 adolescents from Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, were individually interviewed. Data were analysed qualitatively.Results and conclusionsThe stories suggest that what begins as occasional truancy can easily evolve into persistent truancy that eventually could lead to permanent non-attendance. For many of the interviewed pupils, the development of their truancy can best be described as ‘truant spirals’. Compared to the seemingly easy transition towards truanting for the first time, the narratives suggest that it is extremely difficult to curtail the pattern of persistent and intensifying truant behaviour.

Negotiating Norms

Drawing on 91 pornography-related submissions sent by young Finns to a moderated question and answer forum on sexual health, this article explores the personal narratives of adolescents on pornography use. Special attention is given to the submissions by girls to explore the widely circulated narratives on the sexualization of adolescence more precisely. In focusing on these accounts of sexual exploration, learning and the pursuit of pleasure, the article examines how girls’ interests in sexually explicit media can be reflexively understood in the context of everyday sexual practices that are already socially constructed and negotiated. The material reveals that Finnish girls depict themselves as invested with substantial agency, competence and volition despite the occasional gender-specific anxieties that their encounters with pornography have created.

Disequilibrium and Loss of Narrative Coherence in Identity Construction: A Piagetian Perspective on Trauma in Adolescent Victims of Sexual Abuse

Previous authors have presented contradictory views of trauma as either the over- or under-elaboration of experience. This article provides a new theoretical perspective on trauma by incorporating Piagetian constructivism. On a theoretical level, it argues that both forms of narrative disruption following a traumatic episode are not contradictory. Rather, both over- and under-elaboration indicate disequilibrium and loss of narrative coherence in the construction of personal identity. Results are presented from an empirical study of the autobiographies of 15 adolescent victims (between the ages of 12 and 17) of sexual assault. Participants were enrolled in the initial stage of a psychotherapeutic treatment program for abuse in Santiago, Chile, at the time of study. Analysis of participant autobiographies reveals multiple forms of disorganization. The majority of adolescent narratives referred to predominance of traumatic experiences, whereas a small number of cases excluded traumatic experiences altogether. Discussion of study results shows that both forms of narrative disorganization indicate disequilibrium and loss of narrative coherence. Piagetian constructivist theory provides insight into this phenomenon by supporting and advancing understandings of trauma from a constructivist perspective. Implications for therapeutic treatment of sexual abuse, which may help generate clinical guidelines, are presented.

“The World Loves an Underdog,” or the Continuing Appeal of the Adolescent Rebel Narrative: A Comparative Reading of Vernon God Little, The Catcher in the Rye and Huckleberry Finn

The early reception of D. B. C. Pierre’s Vernon God Little (2003) has been characterized by comparisons with two canonical literary antecedents: J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye (1951) and, at a greater remove, Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884). The three novels capitalize on the subversive potential of disaffected teenage narrators, whose compelling vernacular voices, and distinctive position as outsiders in the adult world, are powerful tools for social critique. This article offers an analysis of the continuities and discontinuities in the narrative tradition that links Vernon Little to Huckleberry Finn via the pivotal figure of Holden Caulfield, who is widely considered as the original, unsurpassed model of adolescent rebelliousness in modern literature. Grounded in an extensive exploration of the history of reception of the three texts, this study proceeds to highlight and explore the wider implications of Pierre’s provocative twist on his predecessors’ narrative template. Significantly, this deliberate departure is overlooked in most reviews of Vernon God Little – an omission which testifies to our deep investment in the idea of teenagers as liminal figures between childhood and adulthood, and thus still relatively untainted by worldly corruption. Paradoxically, the persistence of this romanticized view of adolescence coexists with much less idealized representations of young people, especially in the media. This particular contradiction is tentatively teased out in a brief coda to the main argument, with reference to another idiosyncratic adolescent narrator who has managed to capture the popular imagination in recent years: Christopher Boone in Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time (2003). Although his connection with Salinger’s text is less immediately obvious than Vernon’s, in some ways Christopher is a more legitimate heir to Holden Caulfield than Pierre’s protagonist.

‘If drugs does that to you, then I don't want it.’ Resiliency among non-marijuana using adolescents

ABSTRACTThe current study utilizes an asset-based approach to examine inner-city African-American and Latino adolescent non-marijuana use. Interview findings suggest that the common theme in adolescent narratives is why they avoid marijuana use. Specifically, adolescents formulate several reasons situated in their perceptions of self, peers, and parents to avoid marijuana use. Drawing on resiliency theory and to broaden our scope of inquiry, we utilize these findings to further delve into the relationship between perceptions of self, peer communication, parental monitoring, and marijuana use avoidance utilizing survey data analysis. Findings can be used to leverage prevention programs with this population.

Boys Kissing in the Desert: Benjamin Alire Sáenz's ARISTOTLE AND DANTE DISCOVER THE SECRETS OF THE UNIVERSE

“Ari, do you know what an ecotone is?” This is the question raised by the mother of Ari(stotle), the troubled adolescent narrator of Benjamin Alire Saenz's acclaimed novel about two male teenagers ...

The problem of endings in teacher education: interpreting narratives of fictional adolescence

This article explores how a reading group of pre-service teachers responded to the endings of three contemporary young adult texts and what such responses may imply about the interpretive preferences of teacher education. Set in the context of a Faculty of Education at a Canadian university, and using the lens of psychoanalytic theory, this article considers the kinds of thoughts that pre-service teachers appear to privilege, and what such privileging – here symbolized through feelings of frustration and satisfaction in the creation of literary meaning – may imply about the structures and desires for authority and certainty in teacher education.