Rapports à l’autorité et structuration du self chez l’adolescent de la rue en situation de réinsertion sociale au Cameroun.

Abstract

The present work is entitled “relation to authority and structuring of the self in street adolescents in a situation of social reintegration in Cameroon”. We started from the observation that the number of street adolescents is increasing day after day despite the centers and institutions that are deployed to support them. At the same time, the results of these initiatives, although significant, seem inconsistent with the investment granted. The Pediatric Child Health estimated after a study in 2007 at 150,000 the number of street adolescents in Canada and specifies that the figures are also exorbitant in most countries of the world. In 2015, the United Nations reported nearly 150 million young people living on the streets worldwide, 30 million in Africa, 30 million in Asia, 60 million in South America and elsewhere. According to a publication by the Edimar Social Center in 2012, there are an estimated 7,000 street children in Cameroon. In Yaoundé where they are settled, these children number in the order of several thousand over the year. They receive in their center 150 – 200 children per day and mostly adolescents. Based on theories such as Erikson's theory of psychosocial development (1958), attachment theories, cognitivist, constructivist and socioconstructivist theories. The general hypothesis formulated is the following: the relationship to authority of street adolescents in a situation of social reintegration contributes to the structuring of their self, depending on the nature of the relationship that characterizes this relationship. Data collection was done via semi-structured interview, observation, focused collective interview (focus group), logbook, Rosenberg self-esteem test, Self-Index Physique (ISP) by Fox and Corbin (1989) translated into French by Ninot et al (2000), and the three-dimensional place of control questionnaire by Levenson (1973), translation and adaptation by Jutras. The sampling technique we used is purposive sampling. The sample of this work is made up of 18 street adolescents in a situation of social reintegration in Douala and Yaoundé. The data collected was analyzed using the thematic content analysis technique to analyze and interpret the data from the semi-structured interviews and the focus group. The test results will be analyzed according to the protocol provided by each test. We arrived at results that allowed the validation of five out of six research hypotheses. The relationship with authority contributes to the structuring of the self of street adolescents of adolescents in a situation of social reintegration in Cameroon depending on the nature of the relationship that characterizes this relationship. The secure relationship, the support relationship, the benevolent relationship and the relationship of influence have a real contribution to this process. These results thus highlight the need for structured and targeted support.