IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/cysrev/v116y2020ics0190740919313155.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Assessing trustworthiness: Marginalized youth and the central relational paradox in treatment

Author

Listed:
  • Sapiro, Beth

Abstract

Marginalized youth are at elevated risk for mental health difficulties, yet they encounter numerous barriers to engagement with mental health services. Past negative experiences with family, social workers, and systems of care contribute to distrust of service providers and ambivalence about engaging in trusting relationships with adults. This longitudinal qualitative study explored how marginalized youth living with mental health conditions make decisions about trust in their relationships with helping professionals. Semi-structured, open-ended in-depth interviews were conducted with 13 young women living with a mood or anxiety disorder, exploring trust, mutuality, and disconnection in relationships between marginalized youth and helping professionals. Eleven of the participants also participated in a second interview, 3 months later, that explored participants’ relationships with friends and family. Transcripts were analyzed using thematic analysis and interpreted through the lens of relational-cultural theory. Results indicated that the majority of interview participants described feeling unseen, judged, or invalidated in their relationships with family members. Four themes emerged as factors in the assessment of the trustworthiness of service providers: genuine caring; understanding; non-judgmental acceptance; and adult respect for youth agency. Concerns about confidentiality and mandated reporting informed participants’ decisions about disclosure in these relationships. Analysis of findings reveals evidence of the central relational paradox in these descriptions of helping relationships, reflecting the simultaneous appeal and peril of vulnerability in relationships, especially relationships characterized by power differentials. Findings suggest that practitioners working with marginalized youth can expect both openness and guardedness in the treatment relationship.

Suggested Citation

  • Sapiro, Beth, 2020. "Assessing trustworthiness: Marginalized youth and the central relational paradox in treatment," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:116:y:2020:i:c:s0190740919313155
    DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105178
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740919313155
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105178?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Munson, Michelle R. & Smalling, Susan E. & Spencer, Renée & Scott Jr., Lionel D. & Tracy, Elizabeth M., 2010. "A steady presence in the midst of change: Non-kin natural mentors in the lives of older youth exiting foster care," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 527-535, April.
    2. Anderson, Joanna K. & Howarth, Emma & Vainre, Maris & Jones, Peter B. & Humphrey, Ayla, 2017. "A scoping literature review of service-level barriers for access and engagement with mental health services for children and young people," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 164-176.
    3. Samuels, Gina Miranda & Pryce, Julia M., 2008. ""What doesn't kill you makes you stronger": Survivalist self-reliance as resilience and risk among young adults aging out of foster care," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(10), pages 1198-1210, October.
    4. Munson, Michelle R. & Stanhope, Victoria & Small, Latoya & Atterbury, Kendall, 2017. "“At times I kinda felt I was in an institution”: Supportive housing for transition age youth and young adults," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 430-436.
    5. Ahrens, Kym R. & DuBois, David Lane & Garrison, Michelle & Spencer, Renee & Richardson, Laura P. & Lozano, Paula, 2011. "Qualitative exploration of relationships with important non-parental adults in the lives of youth in foster care," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 1012-1023, June.
    6. Goodkind, Sara & Schelbe, Lisa A. & Shook, Jeffrey J., 2011. "Why youth leave care: Understandings of adulthood and transition successes and challenges among youth aging out of child welfare," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 1039-1048, June.
    7. Powers, Laurie E. & Fullerton, Ann & Schmidt, Jessica & Geenen, Sarah & Oberweiser-Kennedy, Molly & Dohn, JoAnn & Nelson, May & Iavanditti, Rosemary & Blakeslee, Jennifer, 2018. "Perspectives of youth in foster care on essential ingredients for promoting self-determination and successful transition to adult life: My life model," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 277-286.
    8. Geenen, Sarah & Powers, Laurie E., 2007. ""Tomorrow is another problem": The experiences of youth in foster care during their transition into adulthood," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(8), pages 1085-1101, August.
    9. Greeson, Johanna K.P. & Bowen, Natasha K., 2008. ""She holds my hand" The experiences of foster youth with their natural mentors," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(10), pages 1178-1188, October.
    10. Mechanic, David & Meyer, Sharon, 2000. "Concepts of trust among patients with serious illness," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 51(5), pages 657-668, September.
    11. Reiss, Franziska, 2013. "Socioeconomic inequalities and mental health problems in children and adolescents: A systematic review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 24-31.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Blakeslee, Jennifer E. & Best, Jared I., 2019. "Understanding support network capacity during the transition from foster care: Youth-identified barriers, facilitators, and enhancement strategies," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 220-230.
    2. Hiles, Dominic & Moss, Duncan & Wright, John & Dallos, Rudi, 2013. "Young people's experience of social support during the process of leaving care: A review of the literature," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(12), pages 2059-2071.
    3. Greeson, Johanna K.P. & Garcia, Antonio R. & Kim, Minseop & Thompson, Allison E. & Courtney, Mark E., 2015. "Development & maintenance of social support among aged out foster youth who received independent living services: Results from the Multi-Site Evaluation of Foster Youth Programs," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 1-9.
    4. Spencer, Renée & Drew, Alison L. & Gowdy, Grace & Horn, John Paul, 2018. "“A positive guiding hand”: A qualitative examination of youth-initiated mentoring and the promotion of interdependence among foster care youth," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 41-50.
    5. Singer, Erin Rebecca & Berzin, Stephanie Cosner & Hokanson, Kim, 2013. "Voices of former foster youth: Supportive relationships in the transition to adulthood," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(12), pages 2110-2117.
    6. Miller, Elizabeth A. & Paschall, Katherine W. & Azar, Sandra T., 2017. "Latent classes of older foster youth: Prospective associations with outcomes and exits from the foster care system during the transition to adulthood," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 495-505.
    7. Rosenberg, Rachel, 2019. "Social networks of youth transitioning from foster care to adulthood," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    8. Avery, Rosemary J., 2010. "An examination of theory and promising practice for achieving permanency for teens before they age out of foster care," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 399-408, March.
    9. Schelbe, Lisa, 2018. "Struggles, successes, and setbacks: Youth aging out of child welfare in a subsidized housing program," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 298-308.
    10. Paul, June C., 2020. "Exploring support for LGBTQ youth transitioning from foster care to emerging adulthood," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    11. Cushing, Gretta & Samuels, Gina Miranda & Kerman, Ben, 2014. "Profiles of relational permanence at 22: Variability in parental supports and outcomes among young adults with foster care histories," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 73-83.
    12. Semanchin Jones, Annette & LaLiberte, Traci, 2013. "Measuring youth connections: A component of relational permanence for foster youth," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 509-517.
    13. Thompson, Allison E. & Greeson, Johanna K.P. & Brunsink, Ashleigh M., 2016. "Natural mentoring among older youth in and aging out of foster care: A systematic review," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 40-50.
    14. Blakeslee, Jennifer E., 2015. "Measuring the support networks of transition-age foster youth: Preliminary validation of a social network assessment for research and practice," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 123-134.
    15. Jones, Annette Semanchin & LaLiberte, Traci & Piescher, Kristine N., 2015. "Defining and strengthening child well-being in child protection," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 57-70.
    16. Klodnick, Vanessa V. & Johnson, Rebecca P. & Morris, Cory & Cohen, Deborah A. & Sapiro, Beth & Schneider, Ava & Fagan, Marc A., 2021. "Shifting from receiver to provider: Aging out of semi-institutional child welfare settings with serious mental health diagnoses," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    17. Best, Jared I. & Blakeslee, Jennifer E., 2020. "Perspectives of youth aging out of foster care on relationship strength and closeness in their support networks," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    18. Morton, Brenda M., 2017. "Growing up fast: Implications for foster youth when independence and early adulthood collide," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 156-161.
    19. Kelly, Cara & Thornton, Anthony & Anthony, Elizabeth K. & Krysik, Judy, 2021. "“Love. Stability. Boundaries.” Kinship perspectives of social-emotional well-being of youth residing in out-of-home care," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    20. Paulsen, Veronika & Berg, Berit, 2016. "Social support and interdependency in transition to adulthood from child welfare services," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 125-131.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:116:y:2020:i:c:s0190740919313155. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/childyouth .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.