In this article, we examine how Black youth in rural South Africa construct role models and connect them to their own life aspirations. We pay particular attention to individual and group identity development in shaping these perceptions. Based on analysis of qualitative data from 99 Black male and female youth aged 14 to 22, we find that (a) the choice of role models reflects a balancing strategy to reconcile individual and group identity development; (b) while the reasons they give for choosing role models are aligned with dominant models of upward mobility in the new South Africa (and globally), our respondents are also attuned to the difficulty of attaining such success; and (c) the choices underscore the continued importance of close and extended kin amidst an increasingly ego-focused life strategy aimed at individual status attainment. These findings can contribute to improving the effectiveness of intervention programs aimed at strengthening the role of positive influences in the lives of Black youth in South Africa.
AaroL. E.FlisherA. J.KaayaS.OnyaH.FuglesangM.KleppK.SchaalmaH. (2006). Promoting sexual and reproductive health in early adolescence in South Africa and Tanzania: Development of a theory- and evidence-based intervention programme. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, 34, 150-158.
2.
AllenA. L. (1992). The role model argument for faculty diversity. Philosophical Forum, 26, 267-281.
3.
AndersonK. G. (2005). Relatedness and investment in children in South Africa. Human Nature, 16, 1-31.
4.
AndersonK. G.CaseA.LamD. (2001). Causes and consequences of schooling outcomes in South Africa: Evidence from survey data. Social Dynamics, 27, 37-59.
5.
BarbarinO.RichterL. (2001). Mandela’s children: Growing up in post-apartheid South Africa. New York, NY: Routledge.
6.
BrookD. W.MorojeleN. K.ZhangC.BrookJ. S. (2006). South African adolescents: Pathways to risky sexual behavior. Aids Education and Prevention, 18, 259-272.
7.
BuckG. A.Plano ClarkV. L.Leslie-PeleckyD.LuY.Cerda-LizarragaP. (2008). Examining the cognitive processes used by adolescent girls and women scientists in identifying science role models: A feminist approach. Science Education, 92, 688-707.
8.
CaseA.WilsonF. (2000). Health and wellbeing in South Africa: Evidence from Landberg survey. Princeton University, unpublished working paper.
9.
ChikaneF. (1986). Children in turmoil: The effects of unrest on township children. In BurmanS.ReynoldsP. (Eds.), Growing up in a divided society: The contexts of childhood in South Africa (pp. 333-344). Johannesburg, South Africa: Ravan Press.
10.
CollinsonM. (2010). Striving against adversity: The dynamics of migration, health and poverty in rural South Africa. Global Health Action, 3, 1-14.
11.
EriksonE. (1968). Identity: Youth and crisis. New York, NY: Norton.
12.
FortesM. (1958). Introduction. In GoodyJ. (Ed.), The development cycle in domestic groups (pp. 1-14). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
13.
HunterM. (2006). Fathers without amandla: Zulu-speaking men and fatherhood. In MorrellR.RichterL. (Eds.), Baba: Men and fatherhood in South Africa (pp. 99-117). Cape Town, South Africa: HSRC Press.
14.
HunterM. (2010). Love in the time of AIDS: Inequality, gender and rights in South Africa. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
15.
IngallC. K. (1997). Metaphors, maps and mirrors: Moral education in middle schools. Greenwich, CT: Ablex.
16.
JunodH. (1966). The life of a South African tribe. New York, NY: Open Books.
17.
KalichmanS. C.SimbayiL. C. (2003). HIV testing attitudes, AIDS stigma, and voluntary HIV counselling and testing in a black township in Cape Town, South Africa. Sexually Transmitted Infections, 79, 442-447.
18.
KingG.FlisherA. J.NoubaryF.ReeceR.MaraisA.LombardC. (2004). Substance abuse and behavioral correlates of sexual assault among South African adolescents. Child Abuse & Neglect, 28, 685-698.
19.
LamD.ArdingtonC.LiebbrandtM. (2006). Progress through school in urban South Africa: Evidence from panel data. Paper presented at the DPRU/TIPS Conference on Accelerated and Shared Growth in South Africa: Determinants, Constraints and Opportunities, Johannesburg, South Africa.
20.
LeibbrandtM.WoolardI.WoolardC. (2009). A long-run perspective of contemporary poverty and inequality dynamics. In AronJ.KahnB.KingdonG. (Eds.), South African economic policy under democracy (pp. 270-299). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
21.
LockwoodP.KundaZ. (1997). Superstars and me: Predicting the impact of role models on the self. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 91-103.
22.
LubbenF.DavidowitzB.BufflerA.AllieS.ScottI. (2010). Factors influencing access students’ persistence in an undergraduate science programme: A South African case study. International Journal of Educational Development, 30, 351-358.
23.
MadhavanS.ThomasK. (2005). Early childbearing and schooling: New evidence from South Africa. Comparative Education Review, 49, 452-467.
24.
MarciaJ.WatermanA.MattesonD.ArcherS.OrlofskyJ. (1993). Ego identity: A handbook of psychosocial research. New York, NY: Springer.
25.
MarkusH.KitayamaS. (1991). Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological Review, 98, 224-253.
26.
MarteletoL.LamD.RanchhodV. (2008). Sexual behavior, pregnancy, and schooling among young people in urban South Africa. Studies in Family Planning, 39, 351-368.
27.
McLeanM. (2004). Is culture important in the choice of role models? Experiences from a culturally diverse medical school. Medical Teacher, 26, 142-149.
28.
MkhizeN. (2006). African traditions and the social, economic and moral dimensions of fatherhood. In MorrellR.RichterL. (Eds.), Baba: Men and fatherhood in South Africa (pp. 183-200). Cape Town, South Africa: HSRC Press.
29.
MurrayC. (1980). Migrant labor and changing family structure in the rural periphery of Southern Africa. Journal of Southern African Studies, 6, 139-156.
30.
NassonB. (1984). Bitter harvest: Farm schooling for black South Africans. Paper presented at the Second Carnegie Inquiry into Poverty and Development in Southern Africa, Cape Town, South Africa.
31.
National Youth Commission. (1997). National youth policy: Institutions and agencies for youth development. Pretoria, South Africa: Author.
32.
NiehausI. (1994). Disharmonious spouses and harmonious siblings: Conceptualising household formation among urban residents in Qwaqwa. African Studies, 53, 115-135.
33.
NixonL. A.RobinsonM. D. (1999). The educational attainment of young women: Role model effects of female high school faculty. Demography, 36, 185-194.
34.
NsamenangA. B. (2010). Fathers, families, and children’s well-being in Africa. In LambM. E. (Ed.), The role of the father in child development (5th ed., pp. 388-412). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
35.
PhinneyJean S. (2000). Identity Formation across Cultures: The Interaction of Personal, Societal and Historical Change. Human Development, 43, 27-31.
36.
PoselD. (2006). Have migration patterns changed in post-apartheid South Africa? In TollmanS.TiendaM.Preston-WhyteE. (Eds.), Africa on the move: African migration and urbanization in comparative perspective (pp. 217-231). Johannesburg, South Africa: Wits University Press.
37.
Preston-WhyteE.LouwJ. (1986). The end of childhood: An anthropological vignette. In BurmanS.ReynoldsP. (Eds.), Growing up in a divided society: The contexts of childhood in South Africa (pp. 360-392). Johannesburg, South Africa: Ravan Press.
38.
QuimbyJ. L.DeSantisA. M. (2006). The influence of role models on women’s career choices. Career Development Quarterly, 54, 296-306.
39.
RampheleM.RichterL. (2006). Migrancy, family dissolution and fatherhood. InMorrellR.RichterL. (Eds.), Baba: Men and fatherhood in South Africa (pp. 73-81). Cape Town, South Africa: HSRC Press.
40.
RichterL.SmithW. (2006). Children’s views of fathers. InMorrellR.RichterL. (Eds.), Baba: Men and fatherhood in South Africa (pp. 155-172). Cape Town, South Africa: HSRC Press.
41.
RiesmanP. (1992). First find your child a good mother: The construction of self in two African communities. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
42.
RindfussR. (1991). The young adult years: Diversity, structural change and fertility. Demography, 28, 493-512.
43.
SerpellR. (1993). The significance of schooling: Life-journeys in an African society. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
44.
South African Department of Health. (2007). Report national HIV and syphilis prevalence survey, South Africa. Pretoria, South Africa: Author.
45.
SpiegelA. (1996). Introduction: Domestic fluidity in South Africa. Social Dynamics, 22, 5-6.
46.
SwartzS.BhanaA. (2009). Teenage tata. Cape Town, South Africa: HSRC Press.
47.
ThabaneM.GuyJ. (1984, April). Unemployment and casual labour in Maseru. Paper presented at the Carnegie Inquiry into Poverty and Development in Southern Africa, Cape Town, South Africa.
48.
TownsendN.MadhavanS.TollmanS.GarenneM.KahnK. (2002). Children’s residence patterns and educational attainment in rural South Africa, 1997. Population Studies, 56, 215-225.
