“Delinquent behaviour as a kind of body politics” against adult regulations — Young people's discourses in Hong Kong

Usually, discourses of young people, particularly for the voices of ‘youth-at-disadvantage’, are silenced no matter in the social construction of their experiences or in the social investigation of their behaviour. Without their voices, a discourse of individual deficits is usually constructed to talk about their delinquent behaviour. However, in the discourses of young people, they considered their problem behaviour as a kind of ‘body politics’ to work against adult regulations. Moreover, obvious gender differences were revealed. While female adolescents constructed their problem behaviour as a tool to rebel against the harsh parental control on their leisure time activities, their male counterparts referred it as an escape to avoid heavy conflicts with parents on their school-to-work situations. In the discourses of young people, what they could do in the face of the adult society was only to rebel or escape with their bodies. Thus, in view of young people's discourse construction of their experiences, gender specific and family based interventions are recommended to work with ‘youth-at-disadvantage’ in outreaching social work service in Hong Kong.

Research Highlights
► This is a discourse analysis study conducted in the outreaching social work service in Hong Kong.
► 15 pairs of young people at disadvantage situations and outreach youth workers were interviewed.
► Young people considered their problem behaviour as a kind of ‘body politics’ to work again adult regulations.
► Males referred it as an escape to avoid heavy conflicts with parents on their school-to-work situations.
► Females constructed it as a tool to rebel again their parents’ harsh control on their leisure time activities.