“I had a shitty past; I want a great future.”: Hopes and fears of vulnerable adolescent girls aging out of care

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2022.106374Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Possible selves help explain expectations of adolescent girls soon leaving care.

  • Adverse childhood experiences contribute to fears and negative possible selves.

  • Wanting to improve their living conditions shapes their possible selves.

  • Having a detailed plan and positive role models contribute to positive expectations.

  • Believing in second chances and being in action contribute to positive expectations.

Abstract

Past studies of adolescent girls aging out of care have shown that being able to imagine themselves in a positive future may make them more resilient now and motivate them to take steps to achieve their goals. In the present study, to learn more about how such girls picture their futures, we conducted interviews and analyses guided by possible-selves theory. Our sample consisted of 15 girls aged 16–18 who were living in foster families or in residential-care settings. We conducted semi-structured interviews with these girls, using an adaptation of the Possible Selves Mapping Interview (Sheppard et Marshall, 1999). Many of the hopes that these girls expressed in their interviews were similar to those of most girls their age, but some of these hopes were influenced by adverse experiences in the girls’ pasts and darkened by their fears for the future. Three of the participants stood out for talking much more about their hopes than about their fears. The differences that we observed in these girls’ possible selves may help to improve programs supporting vulnerable young women after they leave care. To be helpful, these programs not only must be based on what the girls themselves want to achieve, but also must help them to develop detailed action plans and provide them with positive role models, sources of motivation and the belief that if they experience failures, they will always get another chance.

Introduction

Studies of people’s future orientations have primarily focused on adolescents with normative life trajectories (Nurmi, 2005). These studies have revealed the positive effects that a hopeful vision about the future can have on well-being and the transition into adult life (Eryilmaz, 2011, Schmid et al., 2011). Future orientations are all the more important to study in vulnerable adolescents who have faced adversity; indeed, many have experienced out-of-home placements and have not been afforded the same opportunities in life as their peers in the general population (Ferguson, 2018). For these young people, the ability to project themselves into the future in a positive way may foster resilience and provide a strong motivation for goal achievement (Geninet and Marchand, 2007, Thompson and Janigian, 1988). In accordance with possible selves theory, the overarching aim of the present study was to understand how vulnerable adolescent girls living with foster families or in residential-care settings imagine their future after leaving care.

In their efforts to learn more about how young people leaving care project themselves into the future, Bond and van Breda (2018) observe a “lack of conceptual tools” making it difficult to understand these projections. Faced with this observation, they maintain that the theory of possible selves, as developed by Markus and Nurius (1986) provides adequate conceptual guidance for researchers (Bond & van Breda, 2018). These authors place possible selves within the larger theory of self-concept, as they are part of all the self-conceptions and self-images that an individual develops about himself. Markus and Nurius (1986) demonstrated the importance of possible selves in a study of individuals who have gone through a life crisis. Their results showed that those with positive possible selves recovered more effectively after the crisis. Their work also suggests that possible selves can allow individuals to project themselves into a range of creative possibilities, despite some constraints (Markus & Nurius, 1986). These findings demonstrate the importance of contextual factors in understanding the range of possibilities afforded to individuals.

The concept of possible selves refers to individuals’ perceptions of the selves that they might become in the future, including not only selves that they hope to become (hoped-for selves) but also selves that they were considering realistic to achieve (expected selves) and those that they fear they might become (feared selves) (Markus and Nurius, 1986, van Breda, 2010). In this regard, possible selves contribute to the development of the identity of individuals, shaping how they define who they will be in the future (Markus & Nurius, 1986). Identity is formed from what an individual considers possible to achieve depending on the context they evolve in (Ferguson, 2018).

Because “people use identities to prepare for action and to make sense of the world around them” (Ferguson, 2018, p. 79), possible selves play an essential role in regulating individual behavior by giving meaning to future efforts, actions, and decisions (Abrams & Aguilar, 2005). Individuals who have a clear vision of what they want to become and do not want to become will likely act accordingly to achieve their hoped-for selves and avoid their feared selves (Bond and van Breda, 2018, Oyserman and Markus, 1990, van Breda, 2010). To this end, Markus and Nurius (1986) directly link possible selves and intrinsic motivation to goal achievement.

For Nurmi (2005), this projection into the future requires the development of specific cognitive skills during adolescence. To create their future selves, adolescents also need to be made aware of the opportunities available to them to make concrete decisions about what they want and expect for their future. In general, this knowledge is transmitted to adolescents by parents, peers, school, and the media (Nurmi, 2005). To take part in these opportunities, adolescents are therefore dependent on having a supportive social network and be well integrated into a caring community.

The quantity and quality of life opportunities made available to adolescents foster feelings of agency and helps with the development of positive possible selves (Erikson, 2007). Feelings of lack of agency can arise in the presence of negative possible selves (Markus & Nurius, 1986) especially if they are not accompanied by strategies to avoid them (Erikson, 2007). Therefore, if an adolescent is unaware of existing opportunities or if opportunities are simply lacking, this could hinder the development of his or her feelings of agency (Evans, 2007). Indeed, the absence of opportunities may be interpreted by adolescents as a sign that they hold no real agency in life.

Individuals’ possible selves are influenced by the social and cultural settings in which they evolve (Erikson, 2007, Lee and Oyserman, 2009, Oyserman and Fryberg, 2006) and by the social norms associated with gender. Thus, when asked to imagine themselves in the future, girls report more fears about the quality of their relationships, while boys’ concerns are centered more on work and success (Knox et al., 2000). Also, because girls attach so much importance to their interpersonal relationships, they identify more with the successes and failures of the people who are important to them; therefore, they are also more likely to fear the same experiences will happen to them (Oyserman & Fryberg, 2006). Some of the people around them may serve as role models contributing to the development of their hoped-for selves, but others may represent poor examples to follow and contribute to the development of their feared selves (Abrams and Aguilar, 2005, Marshall et al., 2008, Oyserman and Markus, 1990).

Life pathways also influence the projection of self into the future. The cumulative effect of difficult life experiences can deprive individuals of the resources and opportunities they need to explore, choose, and plan different possibilities for their future (Arnett, 2007, Benbenishty and Schiff, 2009, Sulimani-Aidan, 2017, Sulimani-Aidan, 2018). In particular, having been maltreated as a child may prevent young people from developing a sense of hope and purpose (Briere, 2011). In part, because “having learned to operate in ‘survival mode’ the child lives from moment-to-moment without pausing to think about, plan for, or even dream about a future” (National Child Traumatic Stress Network [NCTSN], n.d.). Vulnerable young people may see themselves as lacking choices, opportunities, and support and may therefore feel that their future is bleak. Likewise, they may find thinking and planning for the future very challenging and stressful (Sulimani-Aiden, 2017, p. 332–333).

In their search for adult independence, young people generally aspire to leaving the family home, earning a degree or diploma, finding a life partner, starting a family, and having a home and a career (Gordon et al., 2005, Margraf and Pinquart, 2016, McDonald et al., 2011, Thomson and Holland, 2002). According to McDonald et al. (2011), young people generally organize these desires into a time sequence based on traditional markers of adulthood. Although young people imagine their futures in various ways, most of them still project themselves into a normative framework in which adulthood is associated with becoming established and stabilizing one’s life plans (Thomson & Holland, 2002).

Most young people in the general population believe that they have a good chance of achieving their goals, especially in the social and occupational spheres (Margraf & Pinquart, 2016). Studies of expectations for the future among young people in the general population (Gordon et al., 2005, Iovu et al., 2018, Margraf and Pinquart, 2016, McDonald et al., 2011) usually focus on their hopes and goals and less on their fears. This could be because these fears are less prevalent among young people in the general population. This positive outlook for a future without major fears is made possible by a sense of optimism, self-confidence and close family ties (Iovu et al., 2018). If some adolescents may experience uncertainty because of how their plans fluctuate over time, this uncertainty usually gradually dissipates as they gather the information they need to plan their future (Beal et al., 2016). Being aware of available opportunities helps adolescents imagine a bright future for themselves (Nurmi, 2005).

Young people living in out-of-home care have aspirations for the future, mainly regarding work and education (Lemus et al., 2017), consistent with the main developmental tasks associated with adolescence (Nurmi, 2005). Unfortunately, the many problems that they experience give them a bleak impression of their future and undermine their confidence. These problems include trouble at school, precarious finances, complex relationships with their families of origin, lack of resources and support, and negative influences in their social environment (Hyde and Atkinson, 2019, van Audenhove and Vander Laenen, 2017). People aging out of care often evolve in an environment where the possibilities for choices are limited by a lack of resources. For example, many of these young people fear that they will not be able to achieve their desired level of education, that they will be homeless, that they will not be able to give their future children a good home, that they will get into trouble with the law, or that they will experience emotional and mental health problems (Lemus et al., 2017, Sulimani-Aidan and Benbenishty, 2011).

Unfortunately, these fears reflect the real challenges that young people may face as they transition to adulthood (Benbenishty and Schiff, 2009, Harwick et al., 2017, Sulimani-Aidan and Benbenishty, 2011). On this note, many of them will have to make this transition suddenly and without support and guidance (Courtney et al., 2020; Institut national d’excellence en santé et en service sociaux [INESSS], 2018), while young people in the general population are guided through the opportunities offered to them by their parents, their peers, and school (Nurmi, 2005). Furthermore, young people leaving care will experience many personal and social problems along the way causing them to lose hope (Courtney et al., 2020, Goyette and Turcotte, 2004, INESSS, 2018). This loss of hope is compounded by adolescents feeling vulnerable, stigmatized, powerless and receiving little support (Hyde and Atkinson, 2019, Iovu et al., 2018, van Audenhove and Vander Laenen, 2017).

Studies on young people in the general population and their peers aging out of care reveal a major difference in how both groups picture themselves in the future. These differences could influence how both groups will face the challenges of adulthood. Moreover, there is also a contrast in the way that the studies themselves address the futures of these two groups. Studies of young people in the general population (Gordon et al., 2005, Iovu et al., 2018, Margraf and Pinquart, 2016, McDonald et al., 2011) focus mainly on their hopes and aspirations with a lesser emphasis on their fears. In contrast, studies of children aging out of care tend to focus more on the factors influencing the realization of their hopes and how they try to avoid their feared selves (Hyde and Atkinson, 2019, Sulimani-Aidan, 2017, Sulimani-Aidan, 2018).

There is growing interest in learning more about the hopes and dreams of children aging out of care (Bond and van Breda, 2018, Hyde and Atkinson, 2019, Sulimani-Aidan, 2018). Sulimani-Aidan (2018, p. 71) states that to understand what these young people aspire to become, it is essential to look beyond “outcomes and achievement that are defined as ‘milestones’ in adulthood by the society” and instead focus on “these young people’s own subjective expectations and goals for themselves.” Adopting such an approach in a study on youth with disabilities who had experienced foster care, Harwick et al. (2017) found that their primary desires were focused not on normative milestones but rather on a sense of general well-being. These young people hoped to achieve truly balanced, fulfilled lives based on having a stable place to live, stable finances, relationships, and deep connections with family members and serving as a role model for their children (Harwick et al., 2017).

To better support the transition to adulthood of young people who are on the verge of leaving care, and help them maintain a positive view of their future, it is essential to learn more about the skills and resources they possess. In this regard, the literature reveals some major paradoxes. For example, young people aging out of care say that maintaining positive relationships with and receiving support from important people are especially crucial to foreseeing a positive future (Hyde and Atkinson, 2019, Sulimani-Aidan and Benbenishty, 2011). Unfortunately, many of these young people also report a lack of positive support from the people around them, leading them to believe that they have only themselves to count on in their efforts to achieve their aspirations (Samuels & Pryce, 2008).

To advance knowledge of these issues, we conducted an in-depth examination of the possible selves of adolescent girls who were living in either residential-care settings or with foster families. Specifically, we asked them about both their hopes and their fears. The study also attempted to consider these girls’ past experiences and internal and external resources to better understand the relative importance and meaning that these girls assign to their hopes and fears.

Section snippets

Procedures

The data analyzed in this study came from qualitative interviews conducted in a broader study to determine the needs of adolescent girls who had been placed in out-of-home care by youth-protection authorities in [blinded for review] and would soon be leaving care and starting the transition to adulthood (reference blinded for review). To do so, the broader study attempted to capture the needs of 15 adolescent girls by describing their greatest hopes and fears that shape their identities,

Participants’ hopes and fears for their possible selves in five main areas

Five areas of concerns emerged from the adolescent girls’ descriptions of their hopes and fears: education and work, material security, family life, interpersonal relationships, and identity and lifestyle.

For many of these girls (n = 10), their hopes regarding education and work focused on at least completing secondary school. Some of the girls (n = 7) said that they wanted to get a technical diploma or a university degree as it is a requirement for their vocational ambitions. All the girls

Discussion

The premise of this study was that analyzing the possible selves envisioned by adolescent girls leaving care might provide useful insights for helping them to create a different future for themselves. As Oyserman and Fryberg (2006, p. 4) explained, adolescents need to create possible selves “from something other than simple repetition of current and past outcomes.” A better understanding of these girls’ possible selves might enable practitioners to support them in moving beyond the fears that

Strengths and limitations

One important limitation of this study is that all participants in the interviews had volunteered to do so. Their participation could have been motivated by different reasons. For example, maybe they found the subject especially relevant, had had deep reflections on the matter already, or were in the midst of making important decisions about their future. They also could have participated with the hope of improving the lives of children like them through research. Girls willing to discuss their

Implications for practice and future research

This study has also identified several important considerations for the development of programs to help adolescent girls who are leaving care and making the transition to adulthood. First, it is essential to encourage these young women to develop expectations for their futures that make sense for them and then work with them to turn these expectations into tangible plans. They require assistance to identity the necessary steps to achieving their hopes and preventing their fears. In order to

Conclusion

By looking at the possible selves of adolescent girls leaving care, the objective of this article was to deepen our knowledge of how these young girls project themselves into the future. The results of this study highlight the importance of understanding the long shadow cast by their feared selves. To counter these fears, child protection workers must introduce them to meaningful opportunities and put them in contact with resources that will give them hope for the future. Further research is

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgements

This study was conducted with funding from the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Nature et technologies [2017-FQ-202501], the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et Culture [2019-SE-253470] and the Canada Research Chair in Rehabilitation of Vulnerable Adolescent Girls [950-231433].

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