Re-storying the Lives of At-Risk Youth: A Case Study Approach

Abstract

Psychologists have long been interested in the self and its development. In more recent times, the study of self has taken a narrative turn. In this chapter, our focus is on the construction and reconstruction of the life stories of two at-risk female youth, Amy and Amber (not their real names). To begin with, we provide a select review of the relevant literature on at-risk youth and narrative self as a way of context. Following the review, we introduce Amy and Amber, and using traditional qualitative methodologies to analyze their narratives present some of the emerging theme. Finally, we introduce latent semantic analysis as a complementary approach to analyze textual data so as to further illustrate the changing self-representations among our youth. By applying different methodologies to our data, we hope to offer a representation of our youth that best captures their voice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)