Low self-confidence and self-esteem are common among young people. Often, this is a result of the ideals that Instagram users create. With editing tools, adolescents are able to present a better version of themselves – a version they are proud of. However, the ideal of the "perfect person" creates a negative impact, which generates stress. The stress means that young people present themselves in different ways in the pursuit of validation. At the same time, there is a lack of knowledge concerning how this stress affects them and their lives. The aim of this study is, therefore, to explore how young people experience pressure on Instagram. To find out young people's experiences, it was important to talk to them. Therefore, we chose to do twelve qualitative interviews with 18-year-old adolescents in Karlstad, Sweden. From previous research, we were able to identify five different negative influences that generate stress, which were: social acceptance, status, achievements, body image and sexual self-presentation. These negative influences were our starting points when our study was designed. The main research question was "How do young people experience stress on Instagram. We then asked questions that covered the five previous identifed negative influences. By starting from these, we could also distinguish two new negative influences that generate pressure: lifestyle stress, and the stress to collect ”likes,” which we call ”like stress” for short. Lifestyle stress means that young people feel compelled to have a perfect life in the pursuit of validation and likes. Not only do adolescents feel they should have perfect lives online, but they must also live these lives offline. Furthermore, young people are competing to see who manages to show off the most perfect life on Instagram. It emerged in our study that the negative influences of body image, sexual self-presentation, performance and lifestyle are dependent on likes, which made it possible to identify ”like stress” as another variable. This means that young people feel pressured to present themselves in different ways in the pursuit of likes on Instagram. To explain the interdependence between the various negative influences that generate stress, we designed a model named ”The model of Likestress”. The model explains how the social acceptance and status are linked to body image, sexual self-presentation, performance and lifestyle through like stress. In future, it will be important to understand how large a role Instagram plays for young people, as stress can affect their identity development. / Dåligt självförtroende och självkänsla är vanligt bland ungdomar. Ofta är det ett resultat av de ideal som finns på Instagram. Med hjälp av redigeringsverktyg finns möjlighet att presentera en bättre version av sig själv – en version man är nöjd med. Problematiken med detta är att idealbilden av “den perfekta människan” skapar en negativ påverkan som generar press. Kraven innebär att ungdomar presenterar sig själva på olika vis i strävan efter bekräftelse. Samtidigt saknas kunskap om hur detta påverkar dem och deras liv. Denna studie redogör därför för hur ungdomar upplever press på Instagram.   För att få reda på ungdomars upplevelser var det viktigt att prata med dem. Därför valde vi att genomföra tolv kvalitativa samtalsintervjuer med 18-åriga ungdomar i Karlstad. I tidigare forskning kunde vi identifiera fem olika negativa påverkansfaktorer som genererar press, vilka var följande: social acceptans, status, prestationer, kroppsideal och sexuell självpresentation. Dessa hade vi som utgångspunkt när frågorna för vår studie utformades. Vi ställde den övergripande frågan “Hur upplever ungdomar press på Instagram?” och ställde sedan underfrågor som täckte de fem tidigare identifierade negativa påverkansfaktorerna. Genom att utgå från dessa kunde vi även urskilja två nya negativa påverkansfaktorer som genererar press:  livsstilspress och likepress. Livsstilspress innebär att ungdomar känner krav på att uppvisa ett perfekt liv i strävan efter bekräftelse och likes. Ungdomar ska inte bara uppvisa perfekta liv online utan de ska även leva dessa liv offline. Dessutom tävlar ungdomar om vem som lyckas visa upp det det mest perfekta livet på Instagram. Det framkom att de negativa påverkansfaktorerna kroppsideal, sexuell självpresentation, prestationer och livsstil är beroende av likes, vilket i sin tur bidrog till att vi kunde identifiera en likepress. Den innebär att ungdomar känner sig pressade att presentera sig på olika vis i strävan efter likes. För att förklara beroendeförhållandet mellan de olika negativa påverkansfaktorerna som genererar press utformade vi en modell vid namn ”Likepress-modellen”. Den förklarar hur social acceptans och status är sammankopplade med kroppsideal, sexuell självpresentation, prestationer och livsstil genom likepress. För det framtida samhället är det viktigt att förstå hur stor roll Instagram spelar för ungdomar, då press och krav kan påverka deras identitetsutveckling.

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I denna studie är syftet att skapa en förståelse kring vad som utmärker socialsekreterarnas eftervårdsarbete med ungdomar placerade på särskilda ungdomshem. Studien använder sig av semistrukturerade intervjuer som datasamlingsmetod där socialsekreterarna delat med sig av sina erfarenheter och kunskaper. Utifrån intervjuerna har det i analysen gått att urskilja tre teman som beskriver vad som utmärker socialsekreterares eftervårdsarbete. Dessa teman är: Bibehålla ungdomarnas utveckling, Motstånd i eftervården och Förväntningar på ungdomarnas framtid. De olika insatserna som socialsekreterarna lämnar samt de framgångar och motgångar de har erfarenheter av i eftervården har tolkats utifrån resilience och gräsrotsbyråkrati. Med stöd av dessa teoretiska utgångspunkter framkommer områdena boende, sysselsättning, behandling och socialt nätverk, som socialsekreterarna anser främjar ungdomarnas chans att klara sig efter avslutad placering. I studien framkommer även att socialsekreterarna upplever motstånd från ungdomarna och på vilket sätt de bemöter detta. Studien belyser även att socialsekreterarna arbetar med att integrera ungdomarna i det övriga samhället och vilka förväntningar de uppfattar de kan ställa på dessa ungdomar. / In this study the aim is to create an understanding of what characterizes social workers measures in leaving care for young people in secure units. The study uses semi-structured interviews as a qualitative data collection method where social workers shared their experiences of working with leaving care for young people in secure units. Based on the interviews, our analysis found three themes that describe what characterize social workers’ work. The themes are: Maintain young people’s achievements, Resistance in leaving care and Expectations for young people’s future. What kind of measures the social workers provided along with what they experienced benefited or hindered their work has been analyzed on the basis of resilience and street-level bureaucracy. With the support of these theoretical perspectives housing, employment, treatment and social network was found to be a part of the social workers’ measures to promote young people’s chances for an independent living. It was also found that social workers experiences resistance from young people and how they worked with these setbacks. The study also highlights how the social workers’ strived to integrate young people back into society.

Due to their disproportionate risk of tenancy non-sustainment there have been concerns raised for young people making a pathway out of homelessness into independent living. Despite these concerns, there has been limited research looking at how young people experience tenancy sustainment or where they move onto after terminating a tenancy. This thesis, drawing on Bourdieu’s (1990a) theory of practice, presents a reconceptualisation of tenancy sustainment as a practice of sustaining a tenancy. The theoretical-empirical analysis is based on data collected through longitudinal research involving two waves of semi- structured interviews with 25 young people, aged 16-25, who had recently made a pathway out of homelessness into their own independent tenancies. The interdependency between a tenant and their tenancy presented young people with pressures which they developed techniques of independent living in response to in order to sustain their tenancy and make it a home. Young people not only had a particular housing position of being a tenant, they held family and education-employment positions which took part in the formation and shaping of the pressures they experienced living independently. Tenancies were not seen as an end in themselves by young people who desired, through the experience of sustaining a tenancy, increasingly independent positions within their other social positions as well. An uneven process of actually existing neoliberalism across policy areas through its influence on young people’s constellation of interdependent relations also created a dissonance within the positions held by young people fostering social suffering. Young people ending a tenancy viewed this as a ‘step backwards’ when it meant decreasing independence such as a return to supported accommodation; ambivalence where it arose from the end of a relationship; and as a move forwards, or ‘getting on with life’, when making a youth transition and housing pathway towards establishing their own family household.

The study explores the impact of Aimhigher activity on the lives of young people looked after and in alternative education. In the background of the mixed messages around the effectiveness of the Aimhigher initiative and its closure of the latter in 2011, it is argued that Aimhigher did, in fact, play a very positive role in the young people’s lives. In view of recent messages that a similar initiative may be under way, it is necessary to understand, and make use of Aimhigher legacy, including critique and best practice. The remit of the scheme was mainly associated with improving social justice through increasing the participation of disadvantaged groups in higher education. However, due to ineffective targeting strategies and flawed monitoring mechanisms, it was not possible to establish a link between heavily funded Aimhigher activity and widening participation trends. Additionally, there was a general scarcity of research literature available on the issues related to Aimhigher and its effectiveness. At the same time, documents produced by Aimhigher partnerships feature positive accounts of pupils and teaching staff. Connections have also been made between Aimhigher activity and potential transformations in the young peoples’ attitudes and behaviour. There is also a small body of literature that highlights the importance of exploring the unexpected and the unintended outcomes of any project. It is argued that an in-depth exploration of individual experiences is needed in order to understand whether Aimhigher had a positive effect on its participants. The exploration is carried out using the resilience framework, which allows the researcher to examine the changes in the young people’s lives over time. Therefore, the Aimhigher experience is understood as a part of the participants’ life trajectories, which are constructed of the young people’s interactions with their environment. Grounding this investigation within literature on resilience and its applications is particularly useful, as there has been an increase in the practitioners’ interest in operationalising the resilience framework. The understanding of the resilience-building mechanisms can be utilised in the design of current and future interventions for those disadvantaged and vulnerable, thus contributing to the strength-based discourse around vulnerability and risk. Interviews were carried out with nineteen young people who were looked after or in alternative education at the time of their Aimhigher participation. In addition, nine professionals from gate keeping organisations were interviewed, all of whom had knowledge of the initiative and the young people. The findings reveal that taking part in Aimhigher activity can act as a protective factor in a young person’s development, thus enhancing their resilient patterns. For several participants Aimhigher acted as an important turning point in their life. However, as resilience is understood as a dynamic complex interaction across several domains, it is the cumulative effect of factors that is crucial. The participants who seemed to be navigating their environments most effectively had the most exposure to developmental opportunities and access to support networks. The study also highlights wider issues around practice and policy on vulnerable young people.

Thesis (MDram)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study aims to investigate the phenomena of theatrical events and festivalisations, specifically aimed at young people. Various methodologies on theatrical events and festivalisation are integrated into a devised model. The devised model offers a clear and comprehensive understanding of the numerous processes and structures that play significant roles in the production and experience of a theatrical event or festival. The devised model is utilised to investigate and analyse the trends and practices of Theatre for Young People internationally (specifically Australia) and locally. The devised model allows the study to highlight certain strengths, opportunities, challenges and shortcomings of the different industries. Through comparing the local trends and practices with those of the international Theatre for Young People industries, areas of development are identified. Finally, the study develops a model that can be implemented into the South African environment, and highlights specific challenges and areas that should be developed in order to create a thriving and sustainable Theatre for Young People industry in South Africa. It is evident that South Africa’s support structures differ significantly from those of other countries where Theatre for Young People industries flourish. This has caused Theatre for Young People practitioners to adopt a predominantly didactic approach to producing events for young people. The study found that, in order to create a thriving Theatre for Young People industry, a balance between the educational and entertainment values of Theatre for Young People should be maintained. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie het ten doel om die verskynsel van die teatrale gebeurtenisse (theatrical events) en verfeesteliking (festivalisations) wat spesifiek op jong mense gemik is, te ondersoek. Verskeie metodes van teaterale beurtenisse en verfeesteliking word in 'n ontwerpmodel geïntegreer. Die ontwerpmodel bied 'n duidelike en omvattende begrip van die talle prosesse en strukture wat 'n belangrike rol speel in die produksie en ervaring van 'n teatergebeurtenis of fees. Die ontwerpmodel is gebruik om die tendense en praktyke van Teater vir Jongmense op sowel internasionale (spesifiek Australië) as plaaslike vlak te ondersoek en te ontleed. Die ontwerpmodel laat die studie toe om sekere sterkpunte, geleenthede, uitdagings en tekortkominge van die onderskeie bedrywe te belig. Areas van ontwikkeling vir die plaaslike bedryf word geïdentifiseer deur plaaslike tendense en praktyke met dié van die internasionale Teater vir Jongmense-bedryf te vergelyk. Ten slotte; ontwikkel die studie 'n model wat in die Suid-Afrikaanse omgewing geïmplementeer kan word. Die model beklemtoon spesifieke uitdagings en gebiede wat verder ontwikkel moet word om ten einde 'n vooruitstrewende en volhoubare Teater vir Jongmense in Suid-Afrika te skep. Dit is duidelik dat Suid-Afrika se ondersteuningstrukture aansienlik verskil van dié van ander lande met ‘n bloeiende Teater vir Jongmense-bedryf. Die verskil veroorsaak dat Teater vir Jongmense-praktisyns 'n oorwegend didaktiese benadering tot die daarstel van gebeurlikhede vir jong mense volg. Die studie het bevind dat, ten einde 'n vooruitstrewende Teater vir Jongmensebedryf te produseer 'n balans tussen die opvoedkundige- en vermaaklikheids waardes van Teater vir Jongmense moet gehandhaaf word.

Darbe atlikta teorinė sutrikusio intelekto vaikų ir jaunuolių, gyvenančių globos įstaigoje, psichosocialinės charakteristikos ir salutogenezės, kaip sunkumų įveikos metodologijos, bei vidinės darnos ir jos komponento – sunkumų įveikos strategijų struktūros analizė. Iškelta hipotezė, kad sunkumų įveikos strategijų pasirinkimas priklauso nuo jaunuolių asmens savybių ir socialinės aplinkos. Neįgalūs jaunuoliai, įveikdami sunkumus, mažiau naudoja adaptacinių gebėjimų reikalaujančias strategijas. Interviu ir anketinės apklausos metodais buvo atliktas tyrimas, kurio tikslas – ištirti, kaip įveikia sunkumus sutrikusio intelekto jaunuoliai, išėję iš vaikų ir jaunimo pensionato, kokias įveikos strategijas jie naudoja. Atlikta nestandartizuotos medžiagos turinio (duomenys kategorizuoti pagal semantinius ryšius) ir statistinė (aprašomoji vidurkių, standartinių nuokrypių, faktorinė) duomenų analizė. Tyrime dalyvavo 7 jaunuoliai, turintys intelekto sutrikimą, ir 110 pensionatų darbuotojų, globėjų ir jų šeimų narių (atitinkamai – 99, 8 ir 3 respondentai). Empirinėje dalyje nagrinėjamos sutrikusio intelekto jaunuolių asmenybės ypatumai (psichologinės ir būdo savybės, gebėjimai, vertybės ir nuostatos), socialiniai resursai (socialinė aplinka), stresinės situacijos ir jos subjektyvaus vertinimo ypatumai, įveikos veiksmai (strategijos), kuriuos individas atlieka, norėdamas prisitaikyti prie esamos situacijos. Svarbiausios empirinio tyrimo išvados: 1. Sutrikusio intelekto jaunuolių įveikos... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Theoretical analysis of structure of psychosocial characteristics and salutogenesis as the methodology of coping with difficulties and the analysis of the inner harmony and its component – difficulties coping strategies of young people with dysfunction of intelligence from orphanages and foster homes for children is presented in this Thesis. The hypothesis claims that the choice of difficulties coping strategies depends on personal characteristics of young people and the social environment. When coping with difficulties the disabled young people use fewer strategies requiring adaptation abilities. The research was conducted using the methods of interview and questionnaire. The aim of the research – to study the ways the young people with the dysfunction of intelligence from orphanages and foster homes for children cope with difficulties and the coping strategies they use. The analysis of the content of nonstandard material (the data were categorized according to semantic relations) and statistic data analysis (descriptive analysis of averages, standard deviations, factorial analysis) were done. 7 young people with the dysfunction of intelligence and 110 employees working in the boarding-school, guardians and members of their families (99, 8 and 3 respondents respectively) participated in the research. Personal peculiarities of young people with the dysfunction of intelligence (psychological and temper peculiarities, abilities, values and attitudes), social resources (social... [to full text]

Drawing on a critical realist approach and especially Derek Layder’s ‘Domain Theory’ (Layder 1997; 2006) this thesis explores the richness and complexity of young people’s social capital. The study used a mixed methods design which incorporated sequential and concurrent data collection and analysis comprising 16 in-depth interviews, 17 discussion groups and a survey questionnaire (n=500). Twenty one organisations participated in this study, accessed through youth groups, the youth justice system, one school and one college from the Midlands area, in the 13-19 age range. The total sample using all research methods was 574 young people. Young people’s maintenance and enhancement of social capital is seen as a process which has to be negotiated in a continuous interaction between self, situated activity, social settings and contexts. Within this, critical creative agency, a positive outlook on life and being able to make the leap of trust become agentic mediating factors which help young people to navigate life situations and take the necessary risks to develop a more dynamic social capital. The study challenges some common discourses on diversity, especially those referring to bonding and bridging social capital (Putnam 2000). Contexts of privilege but also of gender and ethnicity are important mechanisms that have a strong impact on the access to social capital resources and points towards the resiliency young people are able to build. Policy and practice need to build on the situated activity of young people and not erode it. Enhancing young people’s existing social capital is achieved by building on their existing resourcefulness, strengthening their existing support networks, opening up new horizons and creating access to new resources within a strength perspective. Institutions need to enhance resiliency and positive risk taking, nurture trusting relationships with significant others and enhance young people’s outlook on life.

This text demonstrates that my work on young people who are exploited through prostitution and young people involved in problematic drug use in Britain at the end ofthe twentieth and beginning ofthe twenty-first century constitutes a significant contribution to advancing our knowledge ofthese inter-related issues. The text demonstrates that, in Britain, at the end of the twentieth and beginning ofthe twenty-first century, young people exploited through prostitution and young people involved in problematic drug use share in common lived experiences in poverty at the margins of society. The common theme demonstrated here is that, as a result ofthe poverty generated by social and economic policies adopted in Britain in response to gIobalisation, 'street cultures' play an important role in the development and maintenance of survival strategies adopted by socially marginalised and economically disadvantaged young people. The discussion argues that these cultures perform important functions in time and space for socially and economically marginal young people. They do so in different ways for different young people. At the same time, however, they serve to further entrench their social and economic exclusion and disadvantage.

Residential childcare has had an image which, at the very least, is not a positive one. It has been blamed for weakening family links and leading to poor educational and health outcomes for children (Biehal et al. 1995; Mendes and Moslehuddin 2004; Stein 2002). However, children and young people enter residential care institutions for a variety of reasons, and by examining the experiences of children and young people in Bangladesh, we can see that residential childcare has the potential to offer a positive option for many disadvantaged children and young people. UNICEF estimates that there are more than 49,000 children in residential care in Bangladesh (UNICEF 2008), but this figure fails to include thousands of children who live in madrasahs. There is neither a uniform childcare policy nor formal aftercare support provision in Bangladesh; instead, the government, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and madrasahs all have their own approaches and methods and there has been no research conducted on young people in and after care. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of residential care from the perspectives of a group of young people who had lived in residential childcare institutions in Bangladesh with a view to making improvements in residential childcare in the future. Qualitative methods were employed for data collection, using in-depth semi-structured interviews with 33 young people (aged between 12 and 26) who had left the care system and observation of the four institutions where they had lived: one run by an NGO, two run by the government and one madrasah run by the religious community. All of the fieldwork was conducted and transcribed in Bangla. The findings of this study show that young people had mixed feelings about their lives in care, preparation for leaving care, and aftercare support; moreover, their experiences were diverse. Overall, most said that they had benefited from being in care and the institution had had a largely positive impact on their lives. However, the experience for those who had been evicted was much less favourable; these young people suffered a range of hardships after leaving care. The findings also show that there was a connection between the in-care experience and the success of a young person in the outside world. The type of institution, its culture, systems and practices, the amount of care received and socio-cultural-religious influences all played a part. The research further indicated that although some young people developed a measure of resilience to face the problems of their everyday lives, they were not fully able to overcome them due to societal discrimination. Those who did best where those who had developed positive attachments with at least one trusted adult, who acted as a mentor and strengthened their commitment and self-motivation. The findings demonstrate that aftercare support varied from institution to institution, but overall, was informal in nature. The study concludes by setting out implications for building better residential childcare policy and practice in Bangladesh. It identifies a number of avenues for further research, suggesting that lessons for the minority world may be learned from this study, namely the notion that the whole community should take responsibility for its children; and attention should be paid to faith and religious beliefs in children’s upbringing. The study has also demonstrated that improving financial resources may not necessarily lead to better outcomes from children and young people. Instead, building relationships with adults, peer groups, parents, and community offer the best chance for good outcomes.