Perceptions on preparing for the transition to adult life the case of colombian and argentine adolescents and youth

Abstract

The objective of this article is to describe the perceptions of adolescents and young people who are or were in protection processes regarding the tools provided by the protection systems for their transition to adult life. A group of 276 adolescents and young people aged between 16 and 21 years (M = 19.01; SD = 1.475) were selected to participate in this descriptive cross-sectional study by convenience sampling. An adaptation of the EVAP questionnaires was used to collect the information, descriptive data was calculated for data analysis, and comparisons between groups and differences between proportions were made. The results show how adolescents and young people positively value the tools they have learned in protection processes. The group of Argentines valued, above all, the strategies related to getting and keeping work and the Colombians valued in a special way: daily habits, savings, documentation management, care of the body and health and maintaining friendly relationships. Finally, it is noteworthy that young people who are in protection processes per­form better evaluations than those who have graduated from the system. The elements ana­lyzed suggest the importance of having feedback spaces in protection systems in which the voices of those who have already graduated can be heard, as well as spaces for exchanging experiences between those who are still linked and those who have already graduated. This would allow highlighting the value that work strategies carried out within protection systems can have or promote the emergence of innovative ideas from the voices of young people.