My thesis concerned young people leaving secure unit care, with special focus on the importance of gender, class and ethnicity. My main research areas are young people with psychosocial problems, and confinement of young people. An overall theme in my research is the role of gender in young people’s lives and development, with a special interest in teenage girls and the construction of girlhood.
Two thousand children and youth in eight municipalities will be subject to a prospective, longitudinal study of their trajectory through the child welfare system for six years. The study is conducted by an interdisciplinary research team with academic competence in social work, sociology, law and criminology, collaborating with FoU-Nordväst.
Inspections have repeatedly revealed bad conditions in secure care and lately an increased use of restrictive measures, such as isolation. In this project, we study the use of restrictive measures over time and how variations in use can be explained.
This study seeks to investigate the significance of gender, ethnicity and social class when decisions of compulsory care of young people are being made. Throughout history, the control of boys have concerned their externalizing behaviour while control of girls primarily has focused on restricting and disciplining their sexual behaviour.
