“The decision was made for me. I'm okay with that”: HPV Vaccine and Adolescent Girls’ Selves

• In Event: 3129 - Section on Medical Sociology Refereed Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 22. Topics in Health and Sexuality

Abstract

Based on 19 qualitative interviews with girls (aged 11-17; grades 7-12), as well as separate interviews with their parents (mostly mothers), this paper investigate the “push and pull” of girls’ narration as they discuss themselves, their families, mothers, schools, and teachers as it relates to conversations on the HPV vaccine, their health, sexual health, and sexuality. I find that other people, negotiations of independence and autonomy, and trust (as in, who girls look to) are main themes in all the interviews. Reading girls’ narratives with these themes in mind, three particular types of selfhood emerged. Some girls: 1) prioritize their mother’s narratives, presenting a type of “tethered self”; 2) explore enactments of agency, autonomy, and independence (although, with varied success), presenting an “autonomous self”; 3) have confidence in the accountability that is diffused between their parents, schools, and doctors -- instilling trust in these institutions gives them a sense of assurance in their stance on these topics. This is the “trusting self.” Highlighting four girls as exemplars of these types, this research reveals the patterns through which girls’ subjectivities, sexual health knowledge, and thoughts on the HPV vaccine are intertwined and operate in relation to other people and larger sociocultural structures. In short, this research focuses on how girls’ sense of self emerges in relation to topics like the HPV vaccine, health, and sexual health.

Author

• Katelin Albert, University of Toronto