The cultural persona as nexus between structural marginalization and youth risk behavior

Abstract

Structural marginalization exerts its effects through multiple social‐ecological levels down to the individual behavior of youth violence and related risks. However, there is very little research or theoretical literature documenting or specifying mechanisms, paths, and linkages across levels. This paper traces one path in which long‐term structural constraints intersect with the adolescent development process via a construct called the cultural persona—a form of archetype or model that embodies the value‐structure, role, and performance of violence and related risk behavior within the kinds of underground or street economies that develop and persist in high‐poverty communities as an outcome of structural marginalization. This mechanism is described, together with its limitations, along with examples and recommendations for interventions and further research.

Psychosocial Exoskeletons

“…They may eagerly seek stabilizing psy-exoskeletons for defensive purposes. Such challenged individuals may be more susceptible to acquiring inferior or maladaptive psy-exoskeletons, developing problematic “psychological armor” (Burnett et al, 2019; Youngson, 2010), “personas” (Edberg, 2020), or “false selves” (Ehrlich, 2021; McFarland Solomon, 2004), masking weaker inner selves. Cartwright (2002) has described “narcissistic exoskeletons in individual with narcissistic personality disorder.” At extremes, these psy-exoskeletons might dramatically separate and peel off from one another as in dissociative identity disorders.…”

Tackling the social marketing formative research bottleneck: comparative analysis of the complementary nature of community-generated personas and focus groups

“…These research findings show that personas created by CBOs can define priorities for intervention design and re-design well before formative research has a chance to interview participants (Jones, 2013); thus, using personas as a precursor to formal research or as an independent tool has far-reaching implications for community-based participatory design. The community-engaged process created cultural personas based on consumer cultural background, values, beliefs and behaviors, including information about age, gender, ethnicity, religion, education, income and other factors that shape personal cultural identity (Edberg, 2020). Cultural personas are slightly different from marketing personas, which are often fictional representations of an ideal customer based on demographic and psychographic characteristics such as age, gender, income, interests, values and purchasing behaviors (Nielsen and Nielsen, 2019).…”

“…The community-engaged process created cultural personas based on consumer cultural background, values, beliefs and behaviors, including information about age, gender, ethnicity, religion, education, income and other factors that shape personal cultural identity (Edberg, 2020). Cultural personas are slightly different from marketing personas, which are often fictional representations of an ideal customer based on demographic and psychographic characteristics such as age, gender, income, interests, values and purchasing behaviors (Nielsen and Nielsen, 2019).…”

Structural marginalization and violence: Advancing research on how community structure contributes to violence and violence prevention

“…In the first paper, Coleman (2020) examines how youth development practice and neo‐liberal ideology may be complicit in maintaining structural inequities by failing focusing on ameliorative interventions that maintain the status quo, while simultaneously failing to address the oppression of youth they serve. In the second paper, Edberg (2020) theorizes about how structural marginalization might be internalized by marginalized youth through the construct of cultural persona. He proposed that adolescents developing in the context of structural marginalization might incorporate the experience into their identity formation by creating personas that help them to navigate their environment.…”