title: What is adolescence?: Adolescents narrate their lives in Lima, Peru.
abstract: This study explores the lives of Peruvian adolescents in a low-income human settlement outside of Lima. Twenty 12-17 year olds were asked to narrate their own life stories using the life history narrative research method. Holistic content analysis was coupled with a grounded-theory approach to explore these data. Intergenerational responsibility, family tensions, economic pressures, racism and violence emerged without prompting and dominated the narrators' life stories, underscoring the degree to which these adolescents lack access to the supportive individuals and structures that are key to positive adolescent development. The challenges faced by these and the other 5.8 million 10-19 year olds in Peru require increased attention to the role of families, peers and communities in ensuring that adolescents are able to maintain their well-being and achieve their future expectations.
authors.affiliation: Division of Infectious Diseases, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA. angelabayerx@gmail.com
authors.forename: Angela M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Bayer
authors.forename: Robert H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Gilman
authors.forename: Amy O
authors.initials: AO
authors.lastname: Tsui
authors.forename: Michelle J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Hindin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D041923:Adolescent Development; D002648:Child; D054541:Family Conflict; D005260:Female; D006240:Happiness; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D010568:Peru; D011203:Poverty; D011287:Prejudice; D011627:Puberty; D014754:Violence