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Undergraduate Student Works

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https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14078/42

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Browsing Undergraduate Student Works by Subject "adolescents"

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    Is trauma a social phenomenon that leads to gang involvement?
    (2019) Leksen, Morgan; Gulayets, Michael; Bereska, Tami
    This paper examines the effects of trauma on youth gang involvement. It focuses on the repercussions that trauma can have on youth, which may result in them looking for like-minded adolescents who are in gangs. The need for support can stem from the reoccurring trauma that the individuals face at an early age and the gang can appear as a safe haven from their lives. This paper argues that the experiences of direct and indirect trauma can put these adolescents on a different life path compared to their peers. Youth need to be actively supported in their families and in the education system in order to succeed. The way society reacts and responds to adolescents who are experiencing trauma will set the tone on how they develop in the future. These youth should be seen as a societal responsibility, and when they are left behind or fall through the cracks of certain social institutions, it should be seen as a failure by the social system and not the individual being seen as a failure. Because of these failures, trauma is a social phenomenon that can lead to youth gang involvement.
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    “To Live or Not to Live”: the silent voices of adolescents with disabilities in Ghana
    (2025) Naab, Florence; Asirifi, Mary A.; Adjei, Charles Ampong; Kyei, Josephine M.; Menkah, William; Gateri, Hellen; Reisdorfer, Emilene; Parikh, Reyna; Burgess-Pinto, Elizabeth
    About 8% of Ghanaians, including adolescents, have various types of disabilities. Although many legal and constitutional protections for people with disabilities, including adolescents, exist in Ghana, it is widely known that these persons face a variety of psychosocial issues. Several factors have been identified as contributing to the unremitting marginalisation of people with disabilities in general, but the extent to which these can be generalised to adolescents with disabilities is unknown. This study, therefore, sought to document the determinants, manifestations, and consequences of disability-related stigma among differently abled adolescents in three special schools in northern, middle, and southern Ghana. An exploratory descriptive qualitative design was used. Overall, 54 participants were purposively selected for a semi-structured interview and focus group discussions. Braun and Clarke’s procedure for thematic analysis was followed. The findings showed a variety of stigmatising experiences by adolescents with disabilities in their sociocultural context. More broadly, the cause of disability was linked to the ramifications of parental sins against the gods, being a descendant of river gods, and the consequences of bewitchment/curses by family members. Others included the perceived transmissibility of the disability and disability as a visible condition. Stigma manifested in the form of pejorative labelling, ableism, and social exclusion. The consequences of this stigma included negative psychological and emotional effects (i.e., depression, low self-esteem, and a lack of confidence) and suicidal ideation. There is an urgent need for stigma reduction interventions for adolescents with disabilities in Ghana as part of an effort to improve their wellbeing.