Identity development of children raised under state protection or foster care system: A grounded theory study

The main purpose of the current study was to investigate the psychological experiences of late adolescents who grew up under state protection and/or foster family in their identity development processes. A qualitative method, grounded theory method was employed to pursue this aim. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 17 individuals from three different participant groups. As a result of the analysis, five super-ordinate themes were conceptualized: (1) ambiguous losses, (2) objectification, (3) discrimination and stigmatization, (4) resource allocation, and (5) identity. The results of the analysis revealed that growing up under state protection and/or foster family emerges difficulties in the personal, social, and political areas of late adolescents' lives. These difficulties manifest in the lives of these late adolescents as norms that they internalize or challenge. As a result of these two ways, growing up under protection results in these adolescents being proud of their identity or drifting from life. The findings of this study emphasized the importance of social arrangements that ensured a healthy identity development for late adolescents raised under government protection and/or foster family.