Toward a social psychology of high risk youth exclusion by Anju Anand A thesis submitted in p

496 Pages·2017·3.09 MB·English

“Never actually had a chance”: Toward a social psychology of high risk youth exclusion

by

Anju Anand

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

in

PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDIES IN EDUCATION

Department of Educational Psychology
University of Alberta

© Anju Anand, 2017
ii

Abstract

Former foster youth often experience an array of serious challenges during their young adult years. Problems such
as homelessness, school drop-out, and mental health and drug problems have been attributed to the requirement
that foster youth lose their supports from child welfare as they approach the legal threshold of adulthood in many
North American jurisdictions (i.e., they “age-out” of their eligibility for services as children). In this dissertation, I
explore how this process of aging-out specifically leads to such poor outcomes for former foster youth. I also
explore how the process of being excluded from supports and resources, that are often seen as necessary for
healthy child development at earlier periods in the youths’ lives, affect the development of their capacities to
survive on their own.

A social exclusion framework was utilized to explore how multiple forms of social and economic disadvantage,
throughout the youth participants’ lives, (e.g., poor youth labour markets, expensive rental accommodations,
absence of consistent caregivers and inadequate educational and mental health supports) interacted to prevent
former foster youth from being able to develop the life and work skills needed for independent living. The results
suggest that not only did such exclusionary events and processes compromise skill development, but they also
interfered with the development of feelings of psychological efficacy and agency that would likely have enabled
the young people to stay committed to vocational and moral identity roles that they felt represented their “true”
selves, such as being a law-abiding student or employee. It would seem that commitment to such identities could
have permitted the youth to feel as though they belonged in mainstream society, as opposed to belonging in
marginalized subcultures, characterized by illicit drug use and other high risk activities. Case studies of four youth
were comprised of extensive biographical information that I obtained through conversational interviews as well as
a structured interview (Adult Attachment Interview) and questionnaire (Trauma and Attachment Belief Scale) that
yielded in-depth information on adverse childhood events such as abuse.
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Preface

This thesis is an original work by Anju Anand. The research project, of which this thesis is a part, received
research ethics approval from the University of Alberta Research Ethics Board, Project Name “Exploring
the Social Exclusion of High Risk Youth”, No. 00009069, September 20, 2009.
iv

Acknowledgements

I would like to especially thank my family, Derek and Suu Kyi, for their unconditional love and
acceptance of me, every day and through every challenge.

I would also like to acknowledge my examining committee, particularly Dr. George Buck and Dr.
Gretchen Hess. Thank you for your unwavering support and for always demonstrating an open mind and
sensitivity to the vulnerable population that is the subject of this dissertation. Dr. Veronica Smith and Dr.
David Pederson also expressed a keen interest in the welfare of my young participants and provided
invaluable feedback to me. Finally, I am grateful to Dr. Jacqueline Pei and Dr. Christina Rinaldi for
empowering me to passionately defend my views on how to best meet the complex challenges of
supporting high risk youth.
v

Table of Contents
Chapter One 1
Study Background and Rationale 1
Toward a Social Psychology of Exclusion 7
The Psychology of Exclusion 12
Attachment and Trauma 12
Attachment 12
Trauma 16
Focal Theory and Emerging Adulthood 18
Autonomy and Identity 21
Autonomy 21
Identity 22
Methodology 27
Deductive Qualitative Analysis 27
Case Studies and Sample 32
Data Collection 36
Collection of interviews and questionnaire responses 36
Preface to the Results Discussion 44
Biographies 45
Jay 45
Tamara 47
Maria 49
Carmen 50
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Chapter Two 52
Fast-Tracking to the Mainstream: The Impact of Accelerated and Compressed Transitions 52
Tamara 52
Maria 53
Jay 55
Carmen 57
Identity 59
Efficacy 65
Vocational and academic efficacy 67
Social skills efficacy 105
Sobriety efficacy 121
Chapter Three 149
Moral Identity 149
Storying Moral Selves 150
The role of childhood and family resources 155
The role of cultural/economic communities 167
Community membership moderates degree of risk-taking 176
Adolescent-limited and life-course persistent risk-taking 184
Narrating transformation: Recovery, redemption and coping 186
Grappling/failing to grapple with harmful transgressions 192
Making sense of bad behaviour and returning to God 194
Downplaying the harm done and staying in control 198
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Rationalizing violence 202
Nothing left to lose: Failing to care about self or others 205
Getting lost in emotional pain and risky coping strategies 207
Resorting to risks, in desperation, to communicate and cope with pain 213
The role of identity diffusion in problems with moral agency 217
Negative identity as a form of identity diffusion 221
Playing at badness versus being bad ‘for real’ 226
Supply and demand influences 232
The role of rewards for ‘good’ behaviour 241
Loneliness and the unpredictability of social rewards 242
Lacking practise with resisting fun/being bored with being good 244
Trauma affects temporal perceptions/beliefs 245
Cultural relativism influences 246
Caring for family and friends adds to the confusion 249
Parental guidance (or lack thereof) brings further confusion 252
Success at hustling reinforces ‘bad’ identity 255
Resisting the ordinary 257
Out of practise with being good 260
Moral “self-battles”: Conscience versus negative identity 260
Moral “self-battles”: Conscience versus perceived survival needs 261
Old ‘good’ self versus newer ‘bad’ self 262
Morality as a life skill 263
Covert resistance 265
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Brain changes interfere with good intentions 267
Being an outsider 268
Street family exclusion 269
Childhood social problems 274
Exclusion from intimate female friendships 277
Family exclusion 279
Lack of belongingness (amongst other factors) predicts suicide risk 284
The adaptive value of being an outsider 287
Chapter Four 291
Antecedents of Identity Problems: A Deeper Look Into the Past 291
Precursor Stages to Identity: Erikson’s Industry, Initiative and Autonomy 291
The impact of chaos 297
The role of children’s coping efforts 305
There are no children here 308
The additional burden of ennui 308
Social exclusions undermine the social contract (and disinhibit impulsivity) 310
Social exclusions undermine psychological resilience 311
The identity burden of accelerated development 311
The additional burden of trauma 313
Social alienation and self-alienation 314
Trauma and Attachment Beliefs Scale (TABS) 315
Trauma from Street Assaults and Childhood Attachment Disruptions 317
Street assaults (intimate partner violence or prostitution related violence) 317
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Attachment related trauma 321
Adult Attachment Interview 324
The Relational Dynamic Underlying Preoccupied Attachment 329
Unmet needs resulting from inconsistent caregiving 329
The Imact of Trust Violations: Moral Injury 335
Betrayal of the attachment bond: Impacts on identity development 342
Betrayal bonds and the acceptance of physical and sexual abuse 343
Trauma bonds, conditional parent regard, and negative identity 344
Possible Unconscious Influences on Identity Development 349
Excluding painful memories underlies identity diffusion 350
Excluding painful memories interferes with self-continuity 352
Excluding painful memories interferes with self-agency 353
Unconscious love deprivation underlies emotional dependency/social problems 354
Deficits in reflective functioning interfere with self-agency 355
Attachment and Trauma Influences on Youth-Worker Interactions 358
Some Final Observations about Housing Supports 382
Postscript 388
Jay 388
Tamara 389
Carmen 390
Maria 393
Chapter Five 396
Conclusion and Implications 396
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The Case for Counselling about Structural Interventions 404
The Case for Structural Interventions 417
The Interdependence and Equal Importance of Agency and Structure: Implications for Free Will 419
Changing the Environment 427
The case for prevention and early intervention 434
The problem with race based child welfare policy 434
The problem with prioritizing Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) 441
The problem with identifying youth as “high risk” 448
The case for reforming transitional supports towards adult independence 453
To My Daughter the Junkie on a Train 460
References 461
Appendix A 484
Trauma and Attachment Belief Subscales 484
Appendix B 485