INVESTIGATING THE AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MEMORIES OF ADOLESCENT BOYS IN YOUTH JUSTICE FACILITIES

Abstract This PhD thesis used a mixed method approach to investigate the life narratives and autobiographical memories of 41 adolescent boys, while they were detained in youth justice facilities in the North Island of Aotearoa New Zealand. The overarching aim of the research was to determine how these rangatahi reflected on their important past experiences and whether the meaning they made of their experiences was associated with aspects of their wellbeing. Given the multiple challenges these rangatahi are likely to have experienced, and the likelihood that they would have received little support to help them process their life experiences, the current research hypothesised that higher levels of reflection would be associated with poorer wellbeing during adolescence. Māori and Pacific adolescents are disproportionally detained in youth justice facilities in Aotearoa New Zealand and thus, this research was placed within the historical and contemporary contexts that relate to the disproportionate number of Māori and Pacific adolescents in the justice system. This research was conducted within a Western scientific framework, but the researcher, a tauiwi/non-Māori researcher, (see Appendix A for positioning statement), was guided by the Te Ara Tika methodological framework (Hudson et al., 2010), the over-arching values of Pacific peoples (Ministry of Pacific People’s Report, 2018), and governed by academic supervisors, a Māori academic/cultural supervisor, and a Research Whānau. The three cross-sectional quantitative studies investigated how these rangatahi organised their life experiences into their life narrative (Study One), interpreted and evaluated important events in their lives (Study Two), and reflected and gained insight from those experiences (Study Three). The relationships between the way these rangatahi/adolescents organised and made meaning out of their past experiences and their self-esteem, internalising symptoms/externalising behaviour and future orientation (how much control they felt they had over and hope they felt about their future) were investigated. In addition, thematic analysis was used to analyse the rangatahi/adolesents’ recall of significant life experiences (self-defining memories) to gain a richer understanding of the participants’ reflections on their childhoods. The ‘My Life as a Film’ autobiographical memory protocol was developed for this research to elicit the participants’ life narratives and three specific self-defining memories (a time when they hurt someone, a time when an adult was especially kind or caring towards them, and a turning point event/an event that changed their life). All of the adolescents could recount their life narrative and recall a time when they hurt someone, all bar one of the rangatahi/adolescents could recall a turning point event in their lives, but 32 out of 41 of the adolescents could not recall a specific memory of a time in their life where an adult was especially kind or caring towards them. The adolescents’ ability to recall other events but not a time of adult kindness suggests this is not a memory deficit but represents a poverty of adult care across the multiple contexts of their lives (e.g., whānau/family, education, health system, justice system, system of State-care). Qualitative analyses of the narratives found the themes expressed by the rangatahi in their autobiographical narratives highlighted the significant adversity these rangatahi/adolescents have experienced. The adolescents’ memories suggest there had been a systematic failure across their childhoods to meet their needs for adult support and care. The quantitative analyses found rangatahi/adolescents who had more highly organised life narratives (greater number of lifetime periods containing specific memories), felt more positively about themselves, (higher self-esteem), than rangatahi/adolescents with poorly organised life narratives. In addition, rangatahi/adolescents who could consider the perspectives of others, when recalling events where they had hurt people, had lower levels of conduct problems than rangatahi/adolescents who did not discuss the negative emotional experiences of others in their narratives. Finally, as predicted, we found adolescents who reflected more on their past felt less confident about their capabilities and more negative about themselves than adolescents who expressed less reflection. Given that rangatahi who offend are often asked to reflect on their lives in rehabilitation and therapeutic programmes, and the importance of positive self-esteem to behavioural change, this finding highlights the need for the consideration of developmental factors when developing policy and programmes for rangatahi in the justice system. While self-reflection may support positive change for adults in the justice system, the current findings suggest that may not be the case for adolescents. Limitations, implications for the key findings and consideration of how the quantitative and qualitative findings may impact policy and future support for justice-involved adolescents are explored.