Dissertation Research: Exchange, Local Meanings of Exchange and Their Consequences among Youth in Chuuk State, Federated States of Micronesia

本项目涉及加州大学欧文分校人类学学生的论文研究。 该项目是在密克罗尼西亚楚克的青少年中进行关于资源交流和青少年冲突的人种学研究。 学生将测试几个假设，涉及青少年在家庭和同龄人中的地位，以及他们在资源交换网络中的存在。 该地区青少年自杀率很高，该项目将检验有关青少年在不同情况下如何和为什么感到被边缘化以及这与他们交换各种资源的能力有何关系的假设。 方法将包括对三个村庄进行抽样普查，并对青年男子、青年妇女、母亲和父亲进行认知测试。 此外，还将收集交换和支持的叙述以及事件历史。 这项研究很重要，因为它将增加国家对世界这一重要地区的专业知识，并将促进对青少年向成年过渡的跨文化理解。 这种转变在许多社会中是困难的，正如青少年自杀率所显示的那样，这样的案例研究揭示了经历转变的个人的优势和压力，对政策制定者来说是有价值的。

This project involves the dissertation research of an anthropology student from the University of Calivornia-Irvine. The project is to conduct ethnographic research among adolescents in Chuuk, Micronesia, on the topic of resource exchanges and teen-aged conflict. The student will test several hypotheses involving the status of adolescents within their households and among their peers and their presence in exchange networks for resources. This region has seen high rates of teen-aged suicides, and the project will test hypotheses relating to how and why adolescents feel marginalized in varying situations and how this relates to their ability to exchange various sorts of resources. Methods will include a sample of three villages to be censused and a sub-sample of young men, young women, mothers and fathers to whom cognitive tests will be administered. In addition narratives of exchange and support as well as event histories will be collected. This research is important because it will add to the nation's expertise about this important region of the world, and will advance out cross-cultural understanding of the teen-aged transition to adulthood. This transition is difficult in many societies, as shown by rates of teen suicide, and case studies such as this which shed light on the strengths as well as stresses involving individuals going through the transition will be valuable to policy makers.