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Young peoples' narratives of family discord as an antecedent to their homelessness

Crafter, S. (2009) Young peoples' narratives of family discord as an antecedent to their homelessness. Poster presented to: Psychology of Women's Conference 2009, Windsor, 15-17 July 2009. (Unpublished)

Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item (Poster)
Abstract: The aim of the research was to investigate the possible explanations for young people becoming homeless, with a particular focus on family discord. Historically, research has focused on the negative behaviours of homeless adolescents. However, there appears to be little understanding of how or why these behaviours begin, or what they mean for the young person concerned (Rosenthal & Rotheram-Borus, 2005). We take a critical psychological approach which allows us to explore those ‘soft’ experiences which contribute to ‘who we are’ and ‘what has made us who we are’ (Woodhead, 1999), which also challenges the notion of the deterministically damaged future. Twelve participants were interviewed using a narrative approach to data collection. All the participants were living in a youth hostel for homeless young people at the time of interview. Their ages ranged from 16-25 years. Whilst only two female participants agreed to be interviewed (10 were male) both genders talked at length about significant female ‘others’ in their lives such as mothers and sisters. This poster will focus on two themes which interrogate the interactions within the family as an antecedent to homelessness. Key themes were ‘discussions of rejection’ and ‘talk of resilience’ and this poster will interrogate the roles that female family members played in those themes
Uncontrolled Keywords: Adolescents, homelessness, family discord
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology > BF712 Developmental psychology > BF724 Adolescence
H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Women > HQ1101 Women. Feminism > HQ1206 Psychology
H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Women > HQ793 Youth. Adolescents. Teenagers
H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Women > HQ755.7 Parents. Parenthood
Creators: Crafter, Sarah
Faculties, Divisions and Institutes: University Faculties, Divisions and Research Centres - OLD > Faculty of Health & Society > Psychology
University Faculties, Divisions and Research Centres - OLD > Research Group > Social and Cultural Research in Psychology Group
Faculties > Faculty of Health & Society > Psychology
Research Centres > Centre for Psychology and Social Sciences
Date: 15 July 2009
Date Type: Presentation
Event Title: Psychology of Women's Conference 2009
Event Dates: 15-17 July 2009
Event Location: Windsor
Event Type: Conference
Language: English
Status: Unpublished
Refereed: Yes
URI: http://nectar.northampton.ac.uk/id/eprint/2444

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