TY - JOUR
T1 - Future expectations of Brasilian street youth
AU - Raffaelli, Marcela
AU - Koller, Silvia H.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by grants to Silvia H. Koller and her students at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul from CNPq (520140/97-4), FAPERGS (Grant No. 97/0075.0), PET/CAPES, and PROPESQ/UFRGS; and by grants to Marcela Raffaelli from the University of Nebraska Research Council, Institute for Ethnic Studies, and Office on International Affairs. The authors acknowledge the research assistance of the Center for the Study of Street Youth (CEP-RUA) team; the cooperation of agencies serving street youth; and—most importantly—the participating youth themselves. Address correspondence to Marcela Raffaelli, Department of Psychology and Institute for Ethnic Studies, 238 Burnett Hall, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68588-0308, [email protected] .
PY - 2005/4
Y1 - 2005/4
N2 - Future expectations of youth surviving on the streets of Porto Alegre, Brasil, were examined. The sample consisted of 35 boys and 34 girls aged 10-18 (M age 14.4) who participated in a sentence completion task and semi-structured interviews. Responses to two incomplete sentences regarding the future revealed a mismatch between hoped-for and expected events. When completing the sentence, "In the future, I hope..." the majority of youth gave optimistic (but generally non-specific) responses. In contrast, the sentence "For me, the future..." elicited more pessimistic responses. Few gender or age-related differences emerged. Findings are discussed in light of prior research with general populations of adolescents as well as studies of street youth. Taken as a whole, results suggest that life on the street shapes and constrains how youth see their futures. Implications of the findings for policy makers and practitioners are addressed.
AB - Future expectations of youth surviving on the streets of Porto Alegre, Brasil, were examined. The sample consisted of 35 boys and 34 girls aged 10-18 (M age 14.4) who participated in a sentence completion task and semi-structured interviews. Responses to two incomplete sentences regarding the future revealed a mismatch between hoped-for and expected events. When completing the sentence, "In the future, I hope..." the majority of youth gave optimistic (but generally non-specific) responses. In contrast, the sentence "For me, the future..." elicited more pessimistic responses. Few gender or age-related differences emerged. Findings are discussed in light of prior research with general populations of adolescents as well as studies of street youth. Taken as a whole, results suggest that life on the street shapes and constrains how youth see their futures. Implications of the findings for policy makers and practitioners are addressed.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.adolescence.2005.02.007
DO - 10.1016/j.adolescence.2005.02.007
M3 - Article
C2 - 15878046
AN - SCOPUS:18144370069
SN - 0140-1971
VL - 28
SP - 249
EP - 262
JO - Journal of Adolescence
JF - Journal of Adolescence
IS - 2 SPEC. ISSS.
ER -