Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Street-connected adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa have been neglected in scholarly research. Extant literature is largely problem focused. This study describes strengths and assets among street-connected youth in Tanzania, using a participatory, mixed methods approach. Adolescents (N = 38, 13-17 years) in a rehabilitation center for street youth in Northern Tanzania completed a Swahili version of the Developmental Assets Profile (DAP). They engaged in participatory activities designed to capture multiple perspectives and promote maximal engagement. A subsample of youth (n = 8) took part in photovoice to elucidate contextual details. Although exploratory, we expected (a) participants would have lower scores on the external versus internal domain of the DAP; (b) qualitative methods would support the DAP and provide complementary, contextual information; and (c) participatory methods would be important for providing varied perspectives and engaging youth in the research process. Results revealed a moderately high level of assets, with strengths in constructive use of time and commitment to school. External assets were higher than internal assets; however, different assets were emphasized across different methods. Overall, results supported the DAP framework. The participatory approaches effectively engaged youth and illuminated the culture and context of their development.

Keywords

street-connected developmental assets participatory methods photovoice Tanzania

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Aptekar

Heinonen

(2003). Methodological implications of contextual diversity in research on street children. Children, Youth and Environments, 13, 202-219.

Arnett

J. J.

(2008). The neglected 95%: Why American psychology needs to become less American. American Psychologist, 63, 602-614.

Asante

K. O.

Meyer-Weitz

Petersen

(2016). Mental health and health risk behaviours of homeless adolescents and youth: A mixed methods study. Child & Youth Care Forum, 45, 433-449.

Beazley

Bessell

Ennew

Waterson

(2009). The right to be properly researched: Research with children in a messy, real world. Children’s Geographies, 7, 365-378.

Beh

Bruyere

Lolosoli

(2013). Legitimizing local perspectives in conservation through community-based research: A photovoice study in Samburu, Kenya. Society & Natural Resources: An International Journal, 26, 1390-1406.

Bignante

(2010). The use of photo-elicitation in field research: Exploring Maasai representations and use of natural resources. EchoGéo, 11, 1-29. doi:10.4000/echogeo.11622

Brislin

R. W.

(1970). Back-translation for cross-cultural research. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 1, 185-216.

Catalano

R. F.

Berglund

M. L.

Ryan

J. A. M.

Lonczak

H. S.

Hawkins

J. D.

(2004). Positive youth development in the United States: Research findings on evaluations of positive youth development programs. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 591, 98-124.

Central Intelligence Agency. (2011). The world factbook. Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html

10.

Consortium for Street Children. (2009). Street children: Occupiers of the invisible public space. Retrieved from http://www.streetchildrenresources.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/occupiers-of-the-invisible-public-space.pdf

11.

Coren

Hossain

Pardo

J. P.

Veras

M. M.

Chakraborty

Harris

Martin

A. J.

(2013). Interventions for promoting reintegration and reducing harmful behaviour and lifestyles in street-connected children and young people. Evidence-Based Child Health: A Cochrane Review Journal, 2013, Article CD009823.

12.

Cumber

S. N.

Tsoka-Gwegweni

J. M.

(2015). The health profile of street children in Africa: A literature review. Journal of Public Health in Africa, 6, 85-90.

13.

Dakin

E. K.

Parker

S. N.

Amell

J. W.

Rogers

B. S.

(2015). Seeing with our own eyes: Youth in Mathare, Kenya use photovoice to examine individual and community strengths. Qualitative Social Work, 14, 170-192.

14.

Damon

(2004). What is positive youth development? The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 591, 13-24.

15.

Drescher

C. F.

Chin

E. G.

Johnson

L. R.

Johnson-Pynn

J. S.

(2012). Exploring developmental assets in Ugandan youth. International Journal of Child, Youth and Family Studies, 4, 500-520.

16.

Drescher

C. F.

Johnson

L. R.

Kurz

A. S.

Scales

P. C.

Kiliho

R. P.

(2018). A development assets approach in East Africa: Can Swahili measures capture adolescent competencies and ecological experiences? Child & Youth Care Forum, 47, 22-43.

17.

Ennew

(1996). Difficult circumstances: Some reflections on “street children” in Africa. Africa Insight, 26, 203-210.

18.

Freire

Ramos

M. B.

(1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York, NY: Continuum.

19.

Gavin

(2003). Developing positive negatives: Youth on the edge capture images of their lives with help from photovoice. Children, Youth and Environments, 13, 254-259.

20.

Grigorenko

E. L.

O’Keefe

P. A.

(2004). What do children do when they cannot go to school? In Sternberg

R. J.

Grigorenko

E. L.

(Eds.), Culture and competence: Contexts of life success (pp. 23-53). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

21.

Hengeveld

(2012). How to write about children in Africa. Retrieved from https://www.africasacountry.com/2012/11/how-to-write-about-children-in-africa

22.

Hills

Meyer-Weitz

Asante

K. O.

(2016). The lived experiences of street children in Durban, South Africa: Violence, substance use, and resilience. International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-Being, 11, Article 30302.

23.

Jakobsen

(2012). Focus groups and methodological rigour outside the minority world: Making the method work to its strengths in Tanzania. Qualitative Research, 12, 111-130.

24.

Joanou

J. P.

(2017). Visualising the invisible: Children on the streets of Lima, Peru, realise the self through photographs. Visual Studies, 32, 133-147.

25.

Johnson

L. R.

Drescher

Bordieri

(in press). Intervention: Enhancing mental health and wellbeing around the world. In Bullock

Sheeley

(Eds.), Going global: Psychologists meeting a world of need. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

26.

Johnson

L. R.

Johnson-Pynn

J. S.

(2007). Cultivating compassion and youth action around the globe: A preliminary report on Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots program. Journal of Youth Development, 2, 26-41.

27.

Johnson

L. R.

Kim

E. H.

Johnson-Pynn

J. S.

Schulenberg

S. E.

Balagaye

Lugumya

(2012). Ethnic identity, self-efficacy, and intercultural attitudes in East African and U.S. youth. Journal of Adolescent Research, 27, 256-289.

28.

Johnson-Pynn

Johnson

L. R.

(2013). Towards Inclusivity, Adaptation, and Collective Action in Ecopsychology: Lessons from East Africa. Ecopsychology, 5, 233-236.

29.

Larson

R. W.

(2000). Toward a psychology of positive youth development. American Psychologist, 55, 170-183.

30.

Lerner

Dowling

Anderson

(2003). Positive youth development: Thriving as the basis of personhood and civil society. Applied Developmental Science, 7, 172-180.

31.

Lugalla

J. L.

Kibassa

(Eds.). (2002). Poverty, AIDS, and street children in East Africa. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press.

32.

Lugalla

J. L.

Mbwambo

J. K.

(1999). Street children and street life in urban Tanzania: The culture of surviving and its implications for children’s health. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 33, 329-344.

33.

McAlpine

Henley

Mueller

Vetter

(2010). A survey of street children in northern Tanzania: How abuse or support factors may influence migration to the street. Community Mental Health Journal, 46, 26-32.

34.

Miles

M. B.

Huberman

A. M.

(1994). Qualitative data analysis (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

35.

Morse

(2008). Young citizens: A case study of institutionalizing children’s participation in community decision-making. Children’s Legal Rights Journal, 24, 23-55.

36.

Nalkur

(2009a). Adolescent hopefulness in Tanzania: Street youth, former street youth, and school youth. Journal of Adolescent Research, 24, 668-690.

37.

Nalkur

(2009b). When life is “difficult”: A comparison of street children’s and non-street children’s priorities. Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies, 4, 324-332.

38.

National Research Council. (2014). Building infrastructure for international collaborative research in the social and behavioral sciences. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

39.

Orme

Seipel

(2016). Survival strategies of street children in Ghana: A qualitative study. International Social Work, 50, 489-499.

40.

Pittman

Irby

Ferber

(2000). Unfinished business: Further reflections on a decade of promoting youth development. Washington, DC: The Forum for Youth Investment/Impact Strategies. Retrieved from http://forumfyi.org/files/UnfinishedBusiness.pdf

41.

Ratner

(2001). Analyzing cultural-psychological themes in narrative statements. Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 2, 1-10.

42.

Roth

Brooks-Gunn

Murray

Foster

(1998). Promoting healthy adolescents: Synthesis of youth development program evaluations. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 8, 423-459.

43.

Scales

P. C.

(2011). Youth developmental assets in global perspective: Results from international adaptations of the Developmental Assets Profile. Child Indicators Research, 4, 619-645.

44.

Scales

P. C.

(2014). Developmental assets and the promotion of well-being in middle childhood. In Ben-Arieh

Casas

Frones

Korbin

J. E.

(Eds.), Handbook of child well-being: Theories, methods and policies in global perspective (pp. 1649-1678). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer.

45.

Scales

P. C.

Benson

P. L.

Dershem

Fraher

Makonnen

Nazeen

. . . Titus

(2013). Building developmental assets to empower adolescent girls in rural Bangladesh: Evaluation of project Kishoree Kontha. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 23, 171-184.

46.

Scales

P. C.

Roehlkepartain

E. C.

Fraher

(2012). Do developmental assets make a difference in majority-world contexts? A preliminary study of the relationships between developmental assets and international development priorities. Retrieved from https://www.search-institute.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/DoAssetsMatter-2012Report.pdf

47.

Scales

P. C.

Roehlkepartain

E. C.

Shramko

(2017). Aligning youth development theory, measurement, and practice across cultures and contexts: Lessons from use of the Developmental Assets Profile. Child Indicators Research, 10, 1145-1178.

48.

Schapp

(2009). Why are there street kids? Retrieved from http://www.amanikids.org/why-are-there-street-children

49.

Search Institute. (2005). Developmental Assets Profile preliminary user manual. Minneapolis, MN.

50.

Sternberg

R. J.

Grigorenko

(Eds.). (2004). Culture and competence: Contexts of life success. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

51.

Strack

R. W.

Magill

McDonagh

(2004). Engaging youth through photovoice. Health Promotion Practice, 5, 49-58.

52.

Thomas

Benítez

(2011). State of the world’s street children: Research. Retrieved from http://www.streetchildrenresources.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/State_of_the_Worlds_Street_Children_Research_final_PDF_online.pdf

53.

Torney-Purta

Barber

(2011). Fostering young people’s support for participatory human rights through their developmental niches. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 81, 473-481.

54.

Tweed

R. G.

Biswas-Diener

Lehman

D. R.

(2012). Cross-cultural research on youth: Avoiding methodological hazards. In Liebenberg

Ungar

(Eds.), Researching resilience (pp. 155-175). Toronto, Ontario, Canada: University of Toronto Press.

55.

UNICEF. (2011). Adolescence in Tanzania: Final report. Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/tanzania/TANZANIA_ADOLESCENT_REPORT_Final.pdf

56.

United Nations. (2015). Transforming our world: The 2030 agenda for sustainable development. Retrieved from https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/21252030%20Agenda%20for%20Sustainable%20Development%20web.pdf

57.

Van Beer

. (1996). A plea for a child-centered approach in research with street children. Childhood, 3, 195-201.

58.

van Blerk

Shand

Shanahan

. (2017). Street children as researchers: Critical reflections on a participatory methodological process in the “growing up on the streets” research project in Africa. In Shelton

Evans

Holt

(eds.) Methodological approaches (pp. 159-178). Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press.

59.

Wang

(2006). Youth participation in photovoice as a strategy for community change. Journal of Community Practice, 14, 147-161.

60.

Wang

Burris

M. A.

(1997). Photovoice: Concept, methodology, and use for participatory needs assessment. Health Education & Behavior, 24, 369-387.

61.

Wang

Burris

M. A.

Xiang

Y. P.

(1996). Chinese village women as visual anthropologists: A participatory approach to reaching policymakers. Social Science & Medicine, 42, 1391-1400.

62.

Yoshikawa

Weisner

Kalil

Way

(2008). Mixing qualitative and quantitative research in developmental science: Uses and methodological choices. Developmental Psychology, 44, 344-354.

63.

Young

Barret

(2001). Adapting visual methods: Action research with Kampala street children. Area, 33, 141-152.

Assessing Assets Among Street-Connected Youth: New Angles With Participatory Methods in Tanzania

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References