Thriving at Crossroads (T@C)

Our lives are impacted by multiple and shifting identities. For young people on the cusp of adulthood, understanding who they are and where they fit in is essential to their health and influences their future.

Here in Aotearoa New Zealand we stand on many faultlines: ethnic, cultural and gender. Despite this richness of experience, ethnic minorities, defined here as Asian, Middle Eastern, Latin American or African, are under-studied and often left uncounted. Within ethnic minorities those identifying with an additional minority identity such as gender diverse, disabled, from financially constrained backgrounds are also largely invisible to researchers and statisticians.

This needs to change.

How do we understand the needs of those young people whose identities cross more than one faultline?

How do we see them more clearly, and engage them with services developed to fit their unique needs?

Our study wants to start findings the answers, using a 4-stage process.

• In phase 1 we look at how minoritised young people experience discrimination and how this might influence health and wellbeing.
• In phase 2 we look at how minoritised young people are perceived by others, such as on social media.
• In phase 3 we explore lived experiences of minoritised young people.
• In phase 4 we explore young people’s response to how others perceive them and act towards them.

See HERE for more about the study