The trajectory of young people in difficulty and social connections

Dropping out is currently a social problem. We would like to shed light on this phenomenon by examining social connections in line with a global perspective of human development at each stage of life. Working with biographical interviews, we look at a sub-group of six young adults from the greater Montreal area who were all abandoned by their parents and either sent to foster care or a family youth center before attending a community organization. Before dropping out, these young people had encountered serious difficulties and many disruptions in their living environments and at school. The analysis of the biographical interviews revealed links between the affective, cognitive and socio-relational problems the individuals experienced porosity in the social spaces of relational experience. These young people are marked by psychological wounds caused by denial of recognition. Conversely, in their current stage of life, some experiences give these young students a sense that they are being recognized. These include attending a self-directed community organization, which affects their development in many ways, such as through building new friendships, creating relationships with peers, participation in interesting activities, empowerment, care, etc.