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Perceptions of Risk of Harm and Social Capital in Young People's Lives Jennifer Pringle PDF

290 Pages·2015·1.59 MB·English
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Perceptions of Risk of Harm and Social Capital in Young People’s Lives Jennifer Pringle Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Applied Social Science University of Stirling 2015 Acknowledgements This PhD was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, and would not have been possible otherwise. I am extremely grateful for the funding that I have received from the ESRC. My sincere gratitude goes to my supervisors, Professor Kirstein Rummery, Professor Brigid Daniel and Sarah Wilson who have provided their academic input and support, without which, I could not have completed this thesis. I’m very grateful for their patience, encouragement and support in helping me to put the pieces of this monumental jigsaw together. I would also like to thank my family and friends for their support. I’m very grateful for their words of encouragement. Particular thanks go to James and Dani for supporting me through this journey, thank you for believing in me. Dani, thank you for being honest and sharing the emotional journey that a PhD brings. Thank you to my ‘poppets’, Nike and Vivian for your support and prayers. I would also like to thank Billie for her honesty and authenticity on completing a PhD, for making the isolating moments just a little bit easier. Particular thanks go to the Head Teacher for his abundant assistance with organising focus groups with the school pupils and staff, and more importantly for his warming welcome and patience. Recruiting participants to take part in this study would not have been possible without the goodwill and assistance of numerous staff within the school and youth club, who were generous with their time and attention. This thesis would not have been possible without the young people and adults who generously shared their experiences, thoughts, and concerns with me. I consider i myself privileged to have had this experience and hope that I have done justice to the insights you shared with me. Finally, I would like to acknowledge my wonderful husband Colin, who has been a constant source of strength and has given me a kick up the backside (with permission) when I needed it most. I am indebted to him for his untiring support, reassurance and lack of complaint throughout my PhD, even although he had grounds for complaint on numerous occasions. His advice to “just keep going” kept me moving forward during the occasions where I felt discouraged and overwhelmed. Thank you for helping me to see clearly when I could not motivate myself to take the next step. Your love, support and patience has been instrumental to me, I could not have finished this race without you. Thank you. ii Abstract Contemporary young people would appear to have access to more information than their predecessors in relation to keeping safe by avoiding or reducing risks. However concerns about young people’s perceived increasing risky behaviours have contributed to a growing focus on understanding young people and risk of harm across private and public spheres. This study examines the views, experiences and behaviours of young people and adults in relation to risk of harm to young people and the role of social capital in reducing perceived risk. Using qualitative data with young people and adults in a Scottish community this study develops an understanding of perceptions of the main risks of harm to young people and whether social capital helps to reduce these risks. Social constructions of ‘appropriate’ behaviours for young people to engage in and subsequent constraints imposed by adult-led structures and safety concerns, formed a significant focus of youth theorising in this area. To a certain extent, the findings from this study challenge the conventional construction of young people as risky individuals, by identifying young people’s negotiation and avoidance strategies for keeping safe. However, young people’s experiences and behaviours in public and private spaces remain significantly structured by age and gender. Young people and adults perceive risks associated with alcohol and public spaces to be high and prominent. The continuing notion of risk appears to be evident in young people’s choices about who to socialise with and where, their safety concerns and ultimately how particular social networks can be accessed in order to capitalise on protective measures. Young people’s safety concerns iii are overwhelmingly related to the ‘other’ in public spaces, reinforcing dominant social constructions of private spaces as safer than public spaces. Strong community ties are highlighted as paradoxical: whilst providing trusting social networks which contribute to loyal and safe peers, the intimacy of such networks is perceived by adults as a barrier to young people’s bridging capital and social mobility. These findings pose difficulties to applying late modernist risk theories which minimise the role of wider social processes in shaping young people’s perceptions. Understanding young people and risk is best served by adopting the sociology of youth and social constructionist perspectives which assert the impact of gender, and in particular the power of age constructions which continue to operate within young people’s lives. Ultimately, perceptions on risk of harm to young people remain infused with gendered and age expectations and constructions. iv Table of Contents Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. i Abstract ............................................................................................................................. iii Chapter One ....................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1 Aims of the Study ................................................................................................................ 1 Thesis structure ................................................................................................................... 2 Chapter Two ....................................................................................................................... 5 Risk, Young People and Social Capital ..................................................................................... 5 A Literature Review ............................................................................................................. 5 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 5 Risk Society, Risk Perception ............................................................................................... 6 The Social Construction of Risk ......................................................................................... 20 Deconstructing Risk without Devaluing Harm ................................................................... 27 Comparing approaches to Risk .......................................................................................... 30 Young People and Risk ...................................................................................................... 32 Social Capital ..................................................................................................................... 44 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 61 Research Questions: ......................................................................................................... 63 Chapter Three ................................................................................................................... 63 Researching Young People’s and Adult’s Perceptions of Risk ............................................... 63 Methodology ..................................................................................................................... 63 Reviewing the literature: developing the research questions ........................................... 64 Research Questions and Methods..................................................................................... 66 Why Qualitative? ............................................................................................................... 67 Access ................................................................................................................................ 69 Access to Schools .............................................................................................................. 70 Consent ............................................................................................................................. 71 Sampling ............................................................................................................................ 77 Methodology ......................................................................................................................... 81 A: Focus Groups with young people and adults ................................................................ 81 Reflections on Holding Focus Groups in a School .............................................................. 85 B. Semi-structured Interviews ........................................................................................... 86 v Young People and research ............................................................................................... 89 Analysis ............................................................................................................................. 91 Managing Qualitative Data and NVivo .............................................................................. 91 Coding ............................................................................................................................... 92 The Analysis Process.......................................................................................................... 95 Role of researcher ............................................................................................................. 97 Sensitive Data and the Impact on the Researcher ........................................................... 101 Chapter Four ................................................................................................................... 103 Alcohol and Drugs Posing Risks to Young People ................................................................ 103 Drugs ............................................................................................................................... 119 Summary ......................................................................................................................... 127 Chapter Five ................................................................................................................... 129 Unknown People and Places as Risky: Maintaining Bonding Social Capital ......................... 129 Bonding Social Capital and Bridging Social Capital .......................................................... 145 Summary ......................................................................................................................... 149 Chapter Six ..................................................................................................................... 150 Adults Protecting Young People – Negotiating Personal and Professional Identities .......... 150 The Family ....................................................................................................................... 150 School Staff ..................................................................................................................... 154 Positive Support Networks: Social Capital in the Community ......................................... 170 Chapter Seven ................................................................................................................ 179 Young People’s Protective Friendships: Negotiation and Avoidance Strategies to Reduce Risk of Harm ............................................................................................................................... 179 Following the Moral Standard ......................................................................................... 179 Rational Thinking and ‘Cleverness’ .................................................................................. 184 Relationships with Other Young People .......................................................................... 186 Protection against the Risk of Alcohol Misuse ................................................................ 193 Protection against Risk of Harm in Public Spaces ............................................................ 195 Summary ......................................................................................................................... 200 Chapter Eight .................................................................................................................. 202 Discussion and Conclusions ................................................................................................. 202 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 202 Young People’s Drinking – Deviating from Socially Constructed Norms ......................... 203 Public spaces as Risky ...................................................................................................... 213 vi Social Capital ................................................................................................................... 223 Contribution of thesis and ideas for future research ...................................................... 238 Bibliography ................................................................................................................... 242 APPENDIX 1 .................................................................................................................... 267 Parental Consent Form........................................................................................................ 267 APPENDIX 2 .................................................................................................................... 270 Interview Guide for Youth Worker ...................................................................................... 270 APPENDIX 3 .................................................................................................................... 272 Focus Group Questions Guide for Young People................................................................. 272 APPENDIX 4 .................................................................................................................... 275 Focus Group Questions Guide for Adults ............................................................................ 275 APPENDIX 5 .................................................................................................................... 278 Interview Questions Guide for Adults ................................................................................. 278 APPENDIX 6 .................................................................................................................... 280 Focus Group Questions Guide for Young Women ............................................................... 280 vii Chapter One Introduction Introduction This thesis is based on a qualitative study, which examined the views, experiences and behaviours of young people and adults in relation to the main risks of harm to young people and the role of social capital in reducing perceived risks, in one Scottish community. This chapter introduces the main aims, context and rationale for the study. An overview of subsequent chapters is also given to assist the reader in navigating the thesis structure. Aims of the Study The aim of this study was to understand how young people and adults view the main risks of harm to young people in their community, and safety measures to reduce risk of harm to young people. This aim was addressed by exploring the following key research questions: 1. What are young people’s and adults’ perceptions of the main risks? 2. What informs perceptions of risk to young people? 3. From adults’ and young people’s perspectives, what role does social capital play in reducing perceived risks of harm to young people? 4. What are the theoretical implications of the study findings? In the UK, there is a lack of research which explores young people’s views on the main risks of harm to them, according to their definitions rather than adults’ definitions. Page | 1 This is a surprising omission given the contemporary concern about this issue within media and policy discourses focusing on young people. This study sought to address this gap by considering the issue of risk in one Scottish community from the perspective of young people themselves, and adults, using focus groups and semi- structured qualitative interviews. By exploring young people’s and adults’ accounts of these issues, this thesis contributes to a greater understanding of the complex and diverse responses which young people make when faced by the often contradictory discourses around risk, space and responsibility. Research in this area has the potential to inform safety initiatives, and contribute to understanding young people’s behaviours and concerns in relation to their safety in private and public spaces; and adults’ behaviours in relation to their efforts to protect young people from harm. By considering young people’s and adult’s views on this issue, this thesis also contributes to attempts to theorise the social position of contemporary young people from sociology of youth perspective. From a theoretical perspective it will be argued that the concepts of power, social control, resistance and gender found within sociology of youth theoretical frameworks have the potential to assist in understanding and contextualising the responses of young people in the current study. Thesis structure Following on from this introductory Chapter, Chapter Two reviews sociological, health and criminological literature relevant to young people and risk of harm. In doing so, gaps within the literature are highlighted as the basis for the current study. The chapter explores theoretical frameworks and concepts which have the potential to assist understanding of existing literature and the research findings presented in Page | 2

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