The ‘right time’ – negotiating the timing of interviews with vulnerable young people

Participant retention is a key factor in determining the success of longitudinal research. Challenges in re-locating and retaining participants over the long term are major issues for researchers working with young people who face adversity and experience frequent changes in circumstances. This article reports on a study of vulnerable young people and their transition into adulthood. Rather than the more conventional schedule-based approach to locating and re-interviewing young people, a relational process, the ‘right time’ framework, was used to facilitate young people's involvement in the study. Embedded in the ‘right time’ framework is recognition of the diverse and fluctuating circumstances that shape young people's availability for interviews. Several case examples are considered which amplify the way that the ‘right time’ framework allowed the research to navigate around these circumstances. The case examples highlight the value young people attached to being involved in the research, the influence on the ‘right time’ of wider relational tensions for young people and the need to negotiate researcher status as a different sort of adult. The ‘right time’ framework contributed to a high retention rate in the study generating a more representative sample and enhancing the subsequent data analysis by providing valuable insights into the lives of these vulnerable young people.     

Spectacles of intimacy? Mapping the moral landscape of teenage social media

This paper explores young people's expressed concerns about privacy in the context of a highly mediated cultural environment, mapping social media practices against axes of visibility and participation. Drawing on interdisciplinary conceptual resources from both the humanities and social sciences, we use ‘spectacles of intimacy’ to conceptualise breaches of privacy, mapping an emergent moral landscape for young people that moves beyond concerns with e-safety to engage with the production and circulation of audiences and value. The paper draws on data from a methodological innovation project using multi-media and mixed methods to capture lived temporalities for children and young people. We present a model that captures a moral landscape shaped by emotional concerns about social media, the affordances of those media and affective discourses emerging from young people's use of the media.     

Journey towards independent living: a grounded theory investigation of leaving the care of Girls & Boys Town,South Africa

The journey out of care and towards independent living is a challenge for many care-leavers. There has been little research into the social processes involved in this care-leaving journey. This paper presents the results of a grounded theory investigation into the care-leaving journeys of nine young men who had, several years previously, been in the care of Girls & Boys Town in South Africa. Working from a resilience perspective, with an ecological emphasis, four central social processes emerged that together explain the care-leaving experiences of the participants. These processes are striving for authentic belonging; networking people for goal attainment; contextualised responsiveness and building hopeful and tenacious self-confidence. These four processes are located within contextual boundaries and at the social environmental interface. The paper presents these processes in detail, drawing on selected narratives of the participants and integrated with additional theory. It is hoped that this paper may contribute to theory building concerning care-leaving processes and enhance youth care practices for youth in care and leaving care.     

价值观的形成规律与当代青年价值观现状

价值观的形成有其自身的规律 ,并受到社会因素和个体内在因素的影响。当代青年正处在我国改革开放进一步深化和社会主义市场经济体制逐步确立及自我意识发展和自我需要扩大的时期 ,因此 ,他们的价值观必然打着当今时代的烙印 ,具有开放性、先锋化、情绪性等特点 ,他们追求高效、公正、互利 ,追求求职与成才相结合 ,但同时 ,其自身的身心失范问题也日趋严重。     

社会转型期弱势群体保护的法理探析

社会转型期由于体制等因素使社会中一部分群体相对的成为弱势群体。本文主要是从法理角度分析保护弱势群体的必要性 ,保护弱势群体是对人权的保障也是社会公正、正义的体现 ,这与法治社会的价值与终极目标相一致     

Equal opportunities,true options or hidden unemployment? A comparative perspective on labour‐market marginality

Previous studies have shown that women generally adjust to unemployment better than men. This study shows that young women value work equally as highly as men, and have negative feelings when unemployed, which indicates the existence of a closed gender gap. However, children have a different influence on men's and women's unemployment experiences. Being a parent increases job-search activity and work involvement among men. On the other hand, children moderate negative experiences of unemployment among women, and they decrease their job-search activity and work involvement. Being a parent increases labour-market marginality among young unemployed women. For young men it is a motivational factor for searching for and getting a job. The comparison shows furthermore that patterns of re-employment vary in the involved countries: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Scotland. They reflect differences in the overall unemployment situation in the countries and the welfare strategies applied.     

运用青年成长的一般与特殊规律指导大学生管理工作

指导大学生管理工作的前提是先认识青年成长的一般规律:青年与社会的基本矛盾、理想自我与现实自我的冲突;成长经历的欲望,“主奴”、“看破红尘”、苦恼、实在阶段;浪费青春,受社会惩处等程度不一的成长代价付出的可能。在此基础上把握大学生群体的特殊表现、即特殊规律:几种特殊矛盾在现实与未来发展、基本素质与专业、独立与依赖、理论与实践之间表现突出;须经历适应大学生活、按理想目标发展自我,从学生生活向职业生活过渡的特殊阶段;围绕学习焦点的特殊性代价付出的可能。规律运用的关键在于;以人为本,加强沟通理解;强化成长意识、目标教育;创造良好的校园文化环境;重视成长代价教育、管理制度到位。     

城市青年消费文化解读

随着我国市场经济的成熟,城市青年一代的消费观念、消费方式、消费心理都出现急剧变化,文化呈现攀比性、自我性、显示性、不稳定性等特点。这将导致一系列负面影响的产生,因此,青年消费文化迫切需要重新塑形,营造健康、积极、和谐的青年消费文化。