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Print Price: $74.95

Format:
Paperback
288 pp.
155 mm x 234 mm

ISBN-13:
9780190624934

Publication date:
April 2021

Imprint: OUP US

The Experience of Emerging Adulthood Among Street-Involved Youth

Doug Magnuson, Mikael Jansson and Cecilia Benoit

Series : Emerging Adulthood Series

This volume utilizes the emergent adulthood framework to further our understanding of marginalized youth in contemporary societies. Using data from a longitudinal study named Risky Business, the authors outline the fundamental characteristics of emerging adulthood through the lens of stories of street-involved youth. These stories inform an understanding of the powerfulness of emerging adulthood theory as a "process;" in particular, they illustrate emerging adults' view of adulthood as comprised of a) accepting responsibility for oneself, b) making independent decisions, and c) becoming financially independent. Further, street-involved youth experience and practice emerging adulthood, and then adulthood, unusually early and under unusual conditions. By examining this developmental process, the book makes a valuable contribution to research on the causes and consequences of the early onset of adulthood, the experience of instability in emerging adulthood, and the importance of social institutions' presence or absence during this period of life.

Readership : Scholars, instructors, and students in developmental psychology and emerging adulthood.

Reviews

"Based on a groundbreaking study of 64 street-involved youth followed for 10 years, this book explores their diverse paths, and provides a refreshing, hopeful perspective on their prospects for successful transitions to adulthood. Woven into their stories are clear directions for practices and policies that can assist street-involved youth to achieve stable and engaged futures."

--Nancy L. Galambos, Professor of Psychology, University of Alberta
"Magnuson, Jansson, and Benoit draw upon data from a truly remarkable study to describe the complex and nuanced trajectories of these highly marginalized young people--from compassionately framed individual narratives to systems-level analyses. This thorough, theoretically-grounded analysis of the wicked problem of youth homelessness will be of great interest to a wide audience exploring this topic and an asset in any course focusing on poverty, youth, and social inequities."

--Sean A. Kidd, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, University of Toronto
"Magnuson, Jansson, and Benoit present a compelling longitudinal analysis of the ways in which street entrenched young people navigate, negotiate, and survive within a backdrop of social and economic inequities. The work is an important commentary on modern day emerging adulthood and notions of identity, agency, stability, relationships, hope, resilience, and independence."

--Jeff Karabanow, Professor and Associate Director, School of Social Work, Dalhousie University

Foreword
Acknowledgments
1. Introduction
2. Street-Involved Youth Talk: The Risky Business Study
3. Contribution and Complications of Instability in the Lives of Street-Involved Youth
4. Self-Focus: Leaving Home and Becoming Street-Involved
5. Self-Focus: Adjusting to the Streert
6. Possibilities: Anticipating the Future
7. NFA (No fixed address): Feeling--and Being--In Between
8. Identity:"Not Being Who I Want To Be"
9. The Implications for Policy and Practice
Index

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Doug Magnuson is Professor at the University of Victoria, Canada in the School of Child and Youth Care. He studies professional practice in various different contexts, including child welfare, street-involved youth, group care, and youthwork in higher education. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in data analysis and research methods.

Mikael Jansson is a Scientist at the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research (CISUR). His current research uses a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches to understand the lives of vulnerable populations, and he has a particular interest in panel data. He has lead research teams focused on youth, young adults, and workers in low-prestige occupations.

Cecilia Benoit is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Sociology at the University of Victoria and Scientist at the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research. Her research examines the multiple dimensions of health inequities embedded in laws, policies, programs, and research agendas and searches for evidence-based solutions to these systemic problems.

Flourishing in Emerging Adulthood - Edited by Laura M. Padilla-Walker and Larry J. Nelson
Leaving Care and the Transition to Adulthood - Edited by Varda R. Mann-Feder and Martin Goyette
Young Adult Development at the School-to-Work Transition - Edited by E. Anne Marshall and Jennifer E. Symonds

Special Features

Includes data from long, qualitative interviews and extensive quantitative health and well-being data, leading to more inclusive findings.
While most studies in this field are cross-sectional, this book draws from a longitudinal study on a population that is historically hard to reach.
Applies emerging adulthood theory to street-involved youth for the first time, examining the causes and consequences associated with an unusually early onset of adulthood.