Young women construct themselves: social identity, self-concept and psychosocial well-being in homeless facilities

Abstract

In problematizing the imagery surrounding the experience of 'homelessness' for young women, this paper is founded on the premise that the processual link between social being and social consciousness-lived experience-needs to be explored. For this sample of young women, 'feeling at home' was either a present state of pathos or a future aspiration, it was not something most associated with their pasts. By listening actively to what the young women had to say about their social identity, self-concept and psychosocial well-being, it is shown that hostel life is portrayed as a stage of transition between the structured limitations of the past and their aspirations for the future.