Poster #43 - A Person-Centered Analysis of Adolescent Black Girls’ Reasoning About a Hypothetical and Challenging Social Situation

• In Event: Poster Session 07

Abstract

Learning about their lived experiences (Rogoff et al., 2018) is an important step toward providing equity-based and transformative approaches to social and emotional learning (SEL; Jagers et al., 2019) for early adolescent Black girls. Moreover, lived experiences occur simultaneously at the level of shared cultural meaning and individual interpretation (Esteban-Guitart & Moll, 2014a; 2014b; Rogoff, 1995). Therefore, methods of analysis are needed for both levels. In a previous study, we reported our findings based on 44 semi-structured interviews with 22 Black girls in 5th to 7th grades. These included pre- and post-interviews surrounding a series of eight adult-facilitated, same-sex, peer-based discussions guided by the participatory culture-specific intervention model (PC-SIM; Nastasi et al., 2004). A variable-centered analysis focused on the level of shared meaning revealed four themes in how these girls talked about a hypothetical situation in which they are invited home by an older boy they just met. Specifically, they prioritize their safety by either 1) not going to the boy’s house, 2) leaving his house, 3) calling for help, or 4) staying until they perceive a specific indication of a lack of safety (e.g., an unknown, older, and/or popular boy). These themes were further classified as pacifying or assertive approaches. Finally, participants expected protection from family and friends (Author et al., 2022). The current study uses a person-centered analysis to focus on the individual level of lived experiences and participants’ construction of individualized approaches to responding to a hypothetical social situation (Tables 1 and 2). Specifically, we used deductive codes from the previous study (Saldaña, 2016) within a collective case-study design (Stake, 1995) to reveal seven individual perspectives about the hypothetical situation. Participants were selected based on unique combinations of themes and variations. This approach also adds to our previous knowledge because each case was focused on a particular area of concern or interest, such as catfishing or the meaning participants give to various spaces and times, not fully captured by the variable-centered approach. Four cases from pre-interviews were titled: ‘Meet the parents,’ ‘The friend zone,’ ‘Beware of catfishing,’ and ‘Texting, talking, and hanging out.’ Three cases from post-interviews were titled: ‘Implications of space and time,’ ‘Nasty stuff not for kids,’ and ‘Seeking sound advice.’ Methodologically, this study illustrates an additional way to use data collected using discourse-based methods to understand the lived experiences of participants. Combined with the themes revealed by the previous study, these represent how multiple analytic lenses can be used to study sociocultural activity theorized to occur on individual and interpersonal levels (Rogoff, 1995). Theoretically, this is an important step in adding to our understanding of the lived experiences of early adolescent Black girls to conceptualize, develop, and implement transformational SEL opportunities (Jagers et al., 2018) and increase responsiveness to their educational and psychological needs (Epstein et al., 2017).

Authors

• Rebekah Pollock, Georgia State University
  Presenting Author

• Ann Cale Kruger, Georgia State University