Future orientation of youth with a history of war trauma: a qualitative study in the African context

ABSTRACT

Adolescence is an important developmental period for social relationships, identity formation and future planning. Traumatic experiences, such as war and persecution, may interfere with optimal development, including the future orientation of adolescents. The present study examines how young adult war survivors construct, make sense of, and narrate their future goals, plans, and expectations. The participants were 13 Liberian 25-35-year old male and female refugees living in Ghana. This qualitative study is based on semi-structured interviews with prompting questions. By applying a phenomenological approach the interview transcripts were categorized into themes and subthemes about future orientations. Results revealed three main themes, two of them desired a positive future orientation, indicating optimism and determination to improve one’s own life and to contribute to a flourishing nation and to peacebuilding. The third theme illustrated a failure to reconstruct war-shattered lives and involved pessimistic views of the future. The results are discussed in relation to peacebuilding and the developmental challenges of young adults as war survivors.

KEYWORDS:

• War trauma
• refugees
• young adults
• qualitative study
• future orientation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Felix Nyarko

Felix Nyarko psychologist, MA, eared his B.A. in University of Ghana in Psychology and Philosophy. He further graduated in The Master’s Degree Programme in Peace, Mediation and Conflict Research, Tampere University, Finland. He is current a PhD candidate in Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Psychology, studying sociocultural factors in adolescent development.

Raija-Leena Punamaki

Raija-Leena Punamäki psychologist, PhD, earned her doctorate in University of Helsinki, Finland and works currently as professor at the Tampere University, Finland. She is specializing in mental health and child and adolescent development. Her research focuses on socio-emotional development, attachment dynamics, and psychosocial interventions in families exposed to health risks and war trauma.