Ungdomars erfarenheter av emotionell utsatthet under uppväxten

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this study is to describe and analyze the lifeworlds of youths subjected to emotional abuse during their childhoods. The following questions have been formulated: What experiences of emotional abuse do youths recount, and what do these experiences involve for the child? What picture of their encounter with the surrounding society do these youths provide, such as, for example, meetings with those close to them and with people at school, and what do these meetings involve for the child? What feelings have characterized their childhoods, and what consequences do these feelings have for the children’s lives and their transitions to adulthood?This study employs a qualitative lifeworld approach. Sixteen youths, 18 year olds have been identified through essays about their childhoods and thereafter have been interviewed about that period of their lives. The youths’ accounts of their emotional abuse depict a constant unpredictability, a lack of closeness, a lack of interest and engagement as well as criticism and abuse. This leads to a feeling among the youth of alienation from their families. The youth describe themselves as pro-active individuals and they experience the world around them as a passive and non-supportive adult world. The youths’ lives and their transitions into adulthood are characterized by feelings of socio-emotional insecurity and an existential loneliness but also a compensatory vitality. The need for emotional support in school so that these youth will be able to overcome emotional abuse and ontological insecurity is brought out. To be able to get through to emotionally abused children the school environment must generally be more relationship-oriented.