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Picture with Lettering Sexuality and Migration
Study

Sexuality and Migration – Focal Point Refugees. A qualitative study on the lives of refugees under the age of 18 in Germany

08/2017 - 02/2018
This study takes a look at a special target group about which little academically verified data exists to date: refugees who are minors. Between 2017 and 2018 80 qualitative one-on-one interviews were conducted with refugees between the ages of 14 and 17 who had come to Germany since 2015. The qualitative survey asks about and introduces conceptions, attitudes and stances, including with regard to sexuality and relationships. Particular attention was given to the conversation setting, where a sensitive cultural approach was chosen that significantly determined the choice of interviewer.

Client

The Federal Centre for Health Education (BZgA)

Adolescent refugees under the age of 18

80 refugees aged between 14 and 17, of which:

  • 28 were female
  • 52 were male

Methodology / Research Design

Qualitative face-to-face interviews supported by guidelines

In 2010 the BZgA study ‘Sexuality and Migration: Milieu-specific Routes to Reaching Young People for Sexuality Education’ showed that young people with a migrant background are to be grouped into different milieus and that these in particular determine their needs for information around sexuality education. The present study into young people who have experienced fleeing their homeland picks up at this point: what do we know about their lives, attitudes, norms, values and behavioural intents, especially with regard to sexuality, relationships and family planning? What wishes for information about sexuality education do they have?

This study delivers qualitative valid statements. That makes it the first empirically founded study in the German-speaking realm that depicts the breadth of different attitudes, stances and mindsets among refugees in the form of a value-based typology. One thing becomes clear: young refugees are not a homogeneous group: even within the various ethnic groups young people can differ significantly in their values and life plans. In other words: there is no one refugee.

Valuable information can be derived from these results, regarding how these young people who have fled their homes deal with the subject of sexuality education and what impacts that can have on creating and conveying information.

 

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