An Endeavour for Autonomy

Abstract

In discussion of troubled adolescent girls, their mental health often is in focus and a discourse constructing girls as vulnerable victims therefore dominates Swedish social services and secure care. This article is an investigation of how the girls themselves are navigating the discursive terrain where understandings of troubled adolescent girls in secure care are regulated. The results show that even though the girls’ stories show considerable similarities with what is previously known about troubled adolescent girls, their understandings of their lived experiences differ. The girls resist the dominating discourses that view them as victims by emphasizing their autonomy and own responsibility. However, in trying to distance themselves from devaluing interpretations, they take an attitude that ultimately obstructs their possibilities of getting help, since it inevitably puts them in opposition to the care system.

The ambiguities of coercion: Mapping adolescents' experiences of coercion in institutional everyday life

“…There can be restrictions on clothing and the use of make‐up and other forms of expression of self and identity. These behavioural regulations constitute forms of soft power, which shape how adolescents in institutional care can perform their gendered, sexual or ethnic selves (Andersson Vogel, 2018; Henriksen, 2018; Sankofa et al, 2018). The regulatory practices aimed at providing adolescents with social skills and behaviour in accordance with social norms, thus serving purposes of rehabilitation and care, while they can be experienced as micromanagement, punishment and devaluations of who they desire to be.…”

Identity status and narrative identity processes in female adolescents' stories about committing crimes and being convicted

“…Although this is true for more serious and violent crimes, self‐report studies have shown that adolescent males and females commit minor, non‐violent offenses (e.g., status offenses, stealing/shoplifting) at equal rates (Loeber et al, 2017b). Research into antisocial behaviors of adolescent females has often focused on the small group of young women with extensive problems, such as young females in gangs, or within secure care (Andersson Vogel, 2018; Gushue & McCuish, 2021; O'Neal et al, 2016). Less focus and attention have been paid to the comparatively larger group of adolescent females who commit crimes, but whose delinquency is limited and, therefore, leads to non‐custodial sanctions.…”