**4. Discussion**

This qualitative study attempted to further an understanding about how African youth negotiated their identity within urban settings of South Australia. Even though it is well acknowledged that the psychological construction of identity occurs throughout adolescence [1], youths, especially those with cultural backgrounds such as in the current study, require additional negotiations to incorporate their cultural, racial, and ethnic identity [3,5] within their new society. This is in recognition that, to migrants, migration to a new setting brings with it a range of novel challenges and stressors [34,35] compared to the general community in the host nation population. For youths settling into a new host culture, this also affects the social construct of their identity.

The findings of the current study revealed that African youths valued opportunities for self-determination, in particular the availability of formal education, freedom of speech and individual action, and freedom from oppression and war. The ability to realise personal ambitions was of significant importance for these youth. This is of particular relevance given that personal accomplishments and achievements have been found to predict personal and ethnic self-esteem among Australian immigrant youth, with personal self-esteem being the single major predictor of immigrant psychological health [19]. The presence of, and effective use of, opportunities enabled youth to realise ambitions and in doing so, promoted a sense of fulfilment and belonging. However, the ability to obtain and make use of opportunities was made difficult in the context of social exclusion and economic hardships. This study revealed that increased individual freedom would lead to different consequences depending on the motivations and resources of individuals. Because of the effect of economic disadvantage and the loss of social networks on arrival to Australia, social exclusion and economic hardship may limit individuals' capacity to make use of opportunities, which in turn could further limit the attempts towards social inclusion and economic security. Within Australia, similar obstacles to social integration, including separation of family members, lack of access to housing and education support, and employment challenges have been observed amongst refugees and immigrants from the Horn of Africa [4]. Although discrimination and racism have been demonstrated to negatively affect an immigrant's self-concept, self-esteem, and access to economic resources [3,16], this was not discussed by respondents within this study. However, this may have been a consequence of the action of more covert forms of discrimination due to the perceived cultural and racial difference between African migrant youths and their host society [14].

It is well acknowledged that upon resettlement, migrants, especially those with a refugee background, tend to pass through many phases of readjustment leading to outcomes ranging from integration through to marginalisation, with the direction of this outcome dependent on the presence or absence of resources in a person's surrounding environment. Evidence also suggests that social inclusion, freedom from discrimination, and access to economic resources are important in promoting mental health during this resettlement process [16]. With its focus on African migrant and refugee youths, this study recognises the importance of these resources in resettlement, but conceptualises them as resources that can be drawn upon to realise their goals and ambitions, meet basic needs, and address the demands imposed by resettlement. This resonates with Dermot Ryan and colleagues' 'resource-based model of migrant adaptation', which extends previous conceptualisations of migrant adaptation to recognise the role played by social environments in creating, or otherwise alleviating, stressful conditions impacting on resettlement. This is particularly relevant for those operating

from a public health understanding as it takes the emphasis away from the role of individuals in managing demands and coping with stress and places it on the social conditions that create stressful demands and examines how social policies shape such conditions. Here, resources are the focus of our attention, including personal resources such as problem-solving and social skills, material resources such as housing and employment, social resources such as emotional and tangible support from others, and cultural resources that enable navigation of daily activities within a particular cultural environment. Importantly, it should be recognised that an individual's resources are likely to be reduced, for various reasons, during each stage of the migration process, including resource losses endured prior to migration and during the migration process itself [24]. It is recognised that upon resettlement, migrants, especially those who are refugees, tend to arrive with histories of trauma and abuse, loss of status and social networks, language barriers, unemployment, financial problems, psychiatric disorders, and addiction to alcohol and drugs [4,17,18]. Thus, it becomes important to build the personal, material, social, and cultural resources of African youths upon arrival, attempting to replenish those lost during the process of migration. By building resources related to education and socioeconomic status, individuals will be more likely to successfully negotiate their own identity within a foreign country [36]. Our study has highlighted education, employment, and supportive social networks as resources important in the minds of African youth, enabling them to realise their needs and goals for life in Australia. It also suggests that a resource-based approach for enhancing adaptation of migrant youths provides a useful framework for public health action enabling youth to negotiate their own identity, alongside psychological, anthropological, and sociological understandings of identity formation [1]. A few limitations of this study are worth noting. One limitation is that the study was unable to elicit details regarding the nature of goals, needs, and demands experienced by these youth and the resources required to address them. It was also unable to identify the processes by which discrimination and racism impacted on the use of and access to resources, which is a key limitation given its potential to erode personal resources [3,16] and increase aversive demands [24]. Research shows that societal responses to refugees can act to preserve or undermine their human social resources and influence the experience of resettlement [37]. Furthermore, although we identified education as an important resource for African youths, we were not able to examine how this might relate to gaining meaningful employment and the impact of this on identity formation as a dynamic process [36]. This is an important consideration, as African migrants elsewhere have been observed to encounter significant barriers to finding employment related to English language comprehension and their ability to navigate job networks [38,39]. It was also less clear as to how histories of interrupted schooling and cultural and social language differences may have impacted on educational outcomes [40]. Further examination of these issues and the extent to which social policies can influence individual resources may prove useful in framing public health action to facilitate positive settlement outcomes for migrant and refugee youths.
