Mixed Lessons: Narrative Identity Development Among Youths in Secure Care

This study examined narrative identity development in 503 personal stories written by youth in secure care in Sweden. Its results showed variations in story content, with the dominant themes involving secure care and the youths’ own destructive behavior. Positive, negative, neutral/vague, and combined emotional sequences (i.e. framing of experiences) were all represented. A hopeful sequence was the most common, and a redemptive sequence the least common. Elements of meaning making (of mixed, negative, or positive valence) were found in about half of the narratives, of which half were of positive valence. Together, the results suggest that young people in secure care are competent storytellers who reflect on what they have been through. However, the fact that the narratives involved negative meaning making and less positive framing of experiences suggests that making meaning from past experiences should not automatically be interpreted as adaptive identity development among young people in secure care.