IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/cysrev/v156y2024ics0190740923005571.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

“Don’t tell me how to tell my story”: Exploring young people’s perceptions around what it means to ‘feel (mis)understood’ by adults in supporting roles

Author

Listed:
  • Cunningham, Emily
  • Jamieson-MacKenzie, Isla
  • McMellon, Christina
  • McCallin, Martha
  • Eltiraifi, Myada
  • Smith, Levi
  • Hepburn, Katie

Abstract

The subjective and emotional experience of feeling (mis)understood by another person is distinct from being literally (mis)understood. While there is literature exploring young people’s experiences of feeling (mis)understood in therapeutic or clinical settings by adults and the impacts thereof, there is limited exploration of young people’s conceptualisations and perspectives of feeling (mis)understood within a range of young person-supporting adult relationships. This paper reports on the first stage of a project that was co-designed and co-produced by young people, exploring how young people experience and conceptualise ‘feeling (mis)understood’ in the context of receiving support from adults in their lives. This initial stage of the project captures young people’s views on what feeling (mis)understood feels like, its impact on their mental health, and how adults can help young people to feel understood. Conceptualisation, design, fieldwork, analysis and writing were all co-produced with peer-researchers. Data for this project was generated through four workshops each held in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. A total of 26 participants aged between 16 and 24 years of age took part in these workshops, and each workshop was facilitated by two peer-researchers and a member of university staff. Data was analysed through collaborative thematic analysis. The study found that feeling understood by supporting adults has a very positive impact on young people’s wellbeing, mental health and help-seeking behaviour. Feeling misunderstood was found to have the converse effect, and in addition was found to make young people less likely to seek further support. Young people also identified a number of key actions adults can take to help the young people they support feel better understood. The findings of this research suggest that practitioners in the health and social care sector working with young people should consider the ways in which they can help young people feel better understood.

Suggested Citation

  • Cunningham, Emily & Jamieson-MacKenzie, Isla & McMellon, Christina & McCallin, Martha & Eltiraifi, Myada & Smith, Levi & Hepburn, Katie, 2024. "“Don’t tell me how to tell my story”: Exploring young people’s perceptions around what it means to ‘feel (mis)understood’ by adults in supporting roles," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:156:y:2024:i:c:s0190740923005571
    DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2023.107361
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740923005571
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.childyouth.2023.107361?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. Richard Gilbert & Ursula Huws & Gunmin Yi, 2019. "Employment Market Effects of Basic Income," Exploring the Basic Income Guarantee, in: Malcolm Torry (ed.), The Palgrave International Handbook of Basic Income, chapter 0, pages 47-72, Palgrave Macmillan.
    2. Omar M.A. Ababneh & Mark LeFevre & Tim Bentley, 2019. "Employee engagement: development of a new measure," International Journal of Human Resources Development and Management, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 19(2), pages 105-134.
    3. Andrew R. Finley & Mindy H. J. Kim & Phillip T. Lamoreaux & Clive S. Lennox, 2019. "Employee Movements from Audit Firms to Audit Clients," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 36(4), pages 1999-2034, December.
    4. Paul J. J. Welfens, 2019. "Trade, Employment and Transatlantic Policy Aspects," Springer Books, in: The Global Trump, chapter 4, pages 141-166, Springer.
    5. Didit Welly UDJIANTO & Joko SUSANTO & PURWIYANTA, 2019. "Infrastructure, Employment And Income Convergence," Romanian Journal of Economics, Institute of National Economy, vol. 49(2(58)), pages 50-61, December.
    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. Jonas Kniel & Alice Comi, 2021. "Riding the Same Wavelength: Designers’ Perceptions of Shared Understanding in Remote Teams," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(3), pages 21582440211, September.
    2. Akilimali Ndatabaye Ephrem & Paul Martin Dontsop Nguezet & Ishara Kaciko Charmant & McEdward Murimbika & Bola Amoke Awotide & Abdoulaye Tahirou & Mulindangabo Neema Lydie & Victor Manyong, 2021. "Entrepreneurial Motivation, Psychological Capital, and Business Success of Young Entrepreneurs in the DRC," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-22, April.
    3. Pushp, Pushkar & Ahmed, Faisal, 2023. "The global value chain: Challenges faced by ASEAN least developed countries," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 45(6), pages 1223-1245.
    4. Patrick Velte, 2023. "The impact of external auditors on firms’ financial restatements: a review of archival studies and implications for future research," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 73(3), pages 959-985, September.
    5. Piao Li & Chang Song & Jenny Jing Wang & Hongrui Zheng, 2022. "CFOs’ audit experience and corporate disclosure quality: evidence from China," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(3), pages 4013-4039, September.
    6. Franklin M. Lartey & Phillip M. Randall, 2022. "Enhanced Engagement Nurtured by Determination, Efficacy, and Exchange Dimensions (EENDEED): A Nine-Item Instrument for Measuring Traditional Workplace and Remote Employee Engagement," International Business Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 15(2), pages 1-1, February.
    7. Löhlein, Lukas & Müßig, Anke, 2020. "At the boundaries of institutional theorizing: Individual entrepreneurship in episodes of regulatory change," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    8. Effnu Subiyanto & Roy Kurniawan, 2022. "Designing fair annual bonus formulations for workers: A case study of the state-owned enterprise cement holding in Indonesia," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-11, December.

    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:156:y:2024:i:c:s0190740923005571. 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.