Citation

Munford R, Sanders J. Child Fam. Soc. Work 2008; 13(1): 2-11.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1365-2206.2007.00501.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This paper compares the experiences of a group of marginalized young women with two groups that remained socially engaged. Drawing from a qualitative study of young women aged between 13 and 15 years, we identify four areas (understandings and experiences of well-being, use of space, making wishes, and emotional and household labour) that illuminated the ways in which marginalized young women articulated their experiences differently from those young women who were still engaged in mainstream social life. Drawing on Ungar's work we consider the ways in which marginalized behaviours, which are typically interpreted as socially disruptive and troubled, can also be read as efforts by young women to create a consistent set of social meanings in their lives and to cement reliable relationships around them. Rather than wholly negative, we suggest that these socially disruptive and troubled behaviours should be understood as having health-enhancing qualities, given the wider contextual challenges the young women faced, and as being the best choices they could make given their circumstances. Social work and support that assists young women on the margins needs to actively engage with these health-enhancing qualities and to come to a sensitized understanding of the way in which these young women understand their interpersonal worlds.