Ciência-IUL
Publications
Publication Detailed Description
Youth’s self-construction in the context of residential care: The looking-glass self within the youth-caregiver relationship
Journal Title
Children and Youth Services Review
Year (definitive publication)
2022
Language
English
Country
United States of America
More Information
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Abstract
Youth in residential care typically struggle to construct a positive sense of self, given their often highly adverse life experiences. However, the processes that explain youth’s self-representations process in residential care have not been systematically analyzed. Based on the symbolic interactionism theory, this study addressed this gap in the literature by testing the Looking Glass Self Hypothesis (LGSH) in this development context within the relationship between youth and their main residential caregiver. Participants were 755 youth from 71 residential care units in Portugal, 12-25 years old, and their respective main caregiver (N = 300). Through a multi-mediator model, we examined whether caregivers’ actual appraisals of the youth in care were associated with youth’s self-representations via caregivers’ reflected appraisals (i.e., youth’s perceptions of their main caregiver’ appraisals of them). Results supported the LGSH in the context of youth-caregiver relationships in residential care, emphasizing the important role of residential caregivers in youth’s self-construction process.
Acknowledgements
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Keywords
Youth,Residential care,Symbolic interactionism,Looking-glass self 16 hypothesis,Social relationships
Fields of Science and Technology Classification
- Psychology - Social Sciences
- Educational Sciences - Social Sciences
- Sociology - Social Sciences
Funding Records
Funding Reference | Funding Entity |
---|---|
PTDC/CED-EDG/30373/2017 | Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia |
UIDB/03125/2020 | Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia |