Mastering Life Chances and Choices: A Metasynthesis of How Disadvantaged Young People Navigate Between Self-Identity and Stigma

Abstract

Care-dependent people are increasingly expected to actively participate in an accelerating society. This metasynthesis provides insight into how contemporary society complicates the pathways to self-actualization for disadvantaged young people. Giddens’ concept of self-identity was used to analyze the experiences of disadvantaged young people in three participatory projects. These initiatives enable network governance where young people and professionals work together, to better match their care needs and support. Participants often feel that they need to magnify their capabilities to get opportunities for self-actualization and to magnify their disadvantages so they can be acknowledged as “care dependent”, a prerequisite to receive professional support. They call upon professionals and policymakers to recognize their multilayered self-identities and to provide a supportive environment that is adjusted to their own pace, so that they can belong and genuinely participate as their true selves.