Premium
Growing Up at the “Margins”: Concerns, Aspirations, and Expectations of Young People Living in Nairobi's Slums
Author(s) -
Kabiru Caroline W.,
Mojola Sanyu A.,
Beguy Donatien,
Okigbo Chinelo
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of research on adolescence
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.342
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1532-7795
pISSN - 1050-8392
DOI - 10.1111/j.1532-7795.2012.00797.x
Subject(s) - kenya , agency (philosophy) , juvenile delinquency , psychology , slum , quality (philosophy) , positive youth development , sociology , developmental psychology , political science , demography , social science , philosophy , epistemology , law , population
We explore the concerns, challenges, aspirations, and expectations of sub‐Saharan A frican youth, and investigate how these youth cope with neighborhood constraints to aspiration achievement. We draw on cross‐sectional survey data from 4033 12–22‐year‐olds (50.3% males) from two K enyan urban slums and subsequent in‐depth interviews conducted with a subset of 75 youth when they were 13–24 years old (45.3% males). We observe that despite the challenges characteristic of urban slums, some youth maintain high aspirations and try to achieve them through education, delinquency, residential mobility, and religion. We note that others adjust their aspirations to account for limited opportunities. Overall, our findings highlight positive youth agency and underscore the need to improve the quality of life in urban slums.