Adolescent Portraits: Identity Relationships

This book argues for the importance of connectedness in student-teacher relationships during adolescence and advocates a more holistic and proactive approach to wellbeing in education. Combining education, psychology and health promotion perspectives, the book begins by providing an overview of theoretical frameworks in the study of student-teacher relationships and makes the case that good relationships with teachers are essential to students’ well-being in school. The book then goes on to present the concept of connectedness and discusses the main challenges regarding its conceptualisation in school research.

This book focuses on the impact of social stigma on adolescents who are at high risk of teen pregnancy. It describes and discusses personal and social factors that predispose them to becoming pregnant and having babies; factors that may subsequently protect or more often, compromise outcomes for both parents and children. The authors, who represent a range of social roles and perspectives, describe the pathways from stigma and its unfounded beliefs about disadvantaged adolescents, to the ways stress burdens teen parents and their children. They note that successful teen parents often go unrecognized and wonder how many more are hobbled by stigma. They recognize the lifespan impacts of stress as described in the ACE studies; stress that has psychological, health and economic implications at individual and social levels. They examine the impact of stigma on parent-child relationships and the attachment system, a stress management system, learned in infancy and persisting into adulthood. The book describes how stigma finds its way into daily interpersonal encounters, systemic policies and practices, and even into healthcare research and services.