Future expectations of Brasilian street youth

Future expectations of youth surviving on the streets of Porto Alegre, Brasil, were examined. The sample consisted of 35 boys and 34 girls aged 10–18 (M age 14.4) who participated in a sentence completion task and semi-structured interviews. Responses to two incomplete sentences regarding the future revealed a mismatch between hoped-for and expected events. When completing the sentence, “In the future, I hope…” the majority of youth gave optimistic (but generally non-specific) responses. In contrast, the sentence “For me, the future…” elicited more pessimistic responses. Few gender or age-related differences emerged. Findings are discussed in light of prior research with general populations of adolescents as well as studies of street youth. Taken as a whole, results suggest that life on the street shapes and constrains how youth see their futures. Implications of the findings for policy makers and practitioners are addressed

Desenvolvimento Moral Pró-Social em Crianças e Adolescentes:: Conceitos, Metodologias e Pesquisas no Brasil

Social scientists have relatively neglected in studying positive social behaviors, for example prosocial behaviorsamong children and adolescents. However, there is much to gain from an understanding of prosocial behaviors. Thepresent paper reviews some conceptual and methodological issues which are mostly based on theoretical models developed onNorth-American samples and research on prosocial development recently developed in Brazil. Limitations of existing theoreticalmodels and methods are briefly considered, and some suggestions for future directions are presented.Cientistas sociais têm negligenciado, relativamente, o estudo de comportamentos sociais positivos, por exemplo comportamentos pró-sociais, entre crianças e adolescentes. No entanto, há muito a ganhar no entendimento desses comportamentos pró-sociais. O presente artigo revisa alguns conceitos e métodos, principalmente baseados em modelos teóricos desenvolvidos com amostras norte-americanas, e pesquisas em desenvolvimento pró-social, recentemente, realizadas no Brasil. Limitações dos modelos teóricos e dos métodos são brevemente consideradas e algumas sugestões para futuras pesquisas são apresentadas

How Do Brazilian Street Youth Experience ‘The Street’?: Analysis Of A Sentence Completion Task

This study investigated how homeless Brazilian youth experience the street and examined factors linked to positive and negative feelings about the street. An opportunity sample of 35 boys and 34 girls aged 10–18 completed a structured interview and sentence completion task aimed at eliciting open-ended responses in a standardized manner. Analyses revealed great diversity in youths’ views of the street; moreover, in analyses controlling for age and gender, youth reporting feeling positive on the street differed from those who felt negative in reasons for leaving home, family situation and daily survival. The findings support the value of the sentence completion task in exploring the subjective experiences of street youth

Uso de drogas entre crianças e adolescentes em situação de rua: o que ajuda?

The aim of this study was to investigate factors associated to frequent and heavy drug use among street children and adolescents aged 10 to 18 years. A sample of 2,807 street children and adolescents from the 27 Brazilian state capital cities was analyzed. A World Health Organization questionnaire for non-students was adapted for use in Brazil. Data analysis was performed using logistic regression and decision tree models. Factors inversely associated with frequent and heavy drug use were: being age nine to 11 years (OR = 0.1); school attendance (OR = 0.3); daily time (one to five hours) spent on the streets (OR = 0.3 and 0.4); not sleeping on the streets (OR = 0.4); being on the streets for less than one year (OR = 0.4); maintenance of some family bonds (OR = 0.5); presence on the streets of a family member (OR = 0.6); not suffering domestic violence (OR = 0.6); being female (OR = 0.8). All of these variables were significant at the p < 0.05 level. The findings suggest that being younger, having family bonds and engagement in school are important protective factors that affect drug use among this population and should be considered in the formulation of public policies.O objetivo do estudo foi verificar fatores associados ao uso frequente e pesado de drogas entre adolescentes em situação de rua no Brasil. Estudo transversal com amostra representativa nacional de 2.807 crianças e adolescentes (10-18 anos). Foi usado um questionário da Organização Mundial da Saúde adaptado para o Brasil e análise dos dados, modelo de regressão logística. Fatores inversamente associados ao uso frequente e pesado de drogas: faixa etária entre 9-11 anos (OR = 0,1); frequentar escola (OR = 0,3); permanecer entre 1 e 5 horas na rua (OR = 0,3 e 0,4); não dormir na rua (OR = 0,4); estar na rua há menos de um ano (OR = 0,4); manter algum vínculo familiar (OR = 0,5); permanecer na rua com algum membro da família (OR = 0,6); não ter sofrido violência doméstica (OR = 0,6); gênero feminino (OR = 0,8). Todas essas variáveis apresentaram p < 0,05. Os achados sugerem que ser mais jovem, ficar menos tempo na rua e manter vínculos com escola e família são importantes fatores de proteção para essa população quanto ao uso frequente e pesado de drogas. Esses são fatores importantes na formulação de políticas públicas para essa população.Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) Departamento de PsicobiologiaUniversidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) Departamento de Medicina PreventivaUniversidade Federal do Rio Grande Instituto de Ciências Humanas e da InformaçãoUniversidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul Instituto de PsicologiaUNIFESP, Depto. de PsicobiologiaUNIFESP, Depto. de Medicina PreventivaSciEL

Individual and culture-level components of survey response styles: a multi-level analysis using cultural models of selfhood

Variations in acquiescence and extremity pose substantial threats to the validity of cross-cultural research that relies on survey methods. Individual and cultural correlates of response styles when using two contrasting types of response mode were investigated, drawing on data from 55 cultural groups across 33 nations. Using seven dimensions of self-other relatedness that have often been confounded within the broader distinction between independence and interdependence, our analysis yields more specific understandings of both individual- and culture-level variations in response style. When using a Likert scale response format, acquiescence is strongest among individuals seeing themselves as similar to others, and where cultural models of selfhood favour harmony, similarity with others and receptiveness to influence. However, when using Schwartz’s (2007) portrait-comparison response procedure, acquiescence is strongest among individuals seeing themselves as self-reliant but also connected to others, and where cultural models of selfhood favour self-reliance and self-consistency. Extreme responding varies less between the two types of response modes, and is most prevalent among individuals seeing themselves as self-reliant, and in cultures favouring self-reliance. Since both types of response mode elicit distinctive styles of response, it remains important to estimate and control for style effects to ensure valid comparisons

Being oneself through time: bases of self-continuity across 55 cultures

Self-continuity – the sense that one’s past, present, and future are meaningfully connected – is considered a defining feature of personal identity. However, bases of self-continuity may depend on cultural beliefs about personhood. In multilevel analyses of data from 7287 adults from 55 cultural groups in 33 nations, we tested a new tripartite theoretical model of bases of self-continuity. As expected, perceptions of stability, sense of narrative, and associative links to one’s past each contributed to predicting the extent to which people derived a sense of self-continuity from different aspects of their identities. Ways of constructing self-continuity were moderated by cultural and individual differences in mutable (vs. immutable) personhood beliefs – the belief that human attributes are malleable. Individuals with lower mutability beliefs based self-continuity more on stability; members of cultures where mutability beliefs were higher based self-continuity more on narrative. Bases of self-continuity were also moderated by cultural variation in contextualized (vs. decontextualized) personhood beliefs, indicating a link to cultural individualism-collectivism. Our results illustrate the cultural flexibility of the motive for self-continuity