**3. Results**

As African migrants, many of the youths participating in this study experienced insecurity and displacement because of civil unrest in their countries of origin (Table 1). Social identity for these youths is beyond the physical construct that often shapes identity discourses. Identity for these participants was not just about their race (a social construct used here as a point of analysis), gender, ethnicity or country of origin. It is innate in nature and involved matters that are important for everyday life. There were multiple identities, and it relates to how they felt both in- and outside their physical body. The concept of 'opportunity' appeared to be important, regarded as a gift holding special meaning and privilege. As such, it came with the expectation that opportunity is used for reciprocating benefits to family in Africa and the Australian society more generally. However, the extent to which individuals acted on these opportunities in meaningful ways varied, affecting a person's sense of purpose and belonging in Australia. Although there appeared a general feeling of being torn between two places among respondents, the loss of social networks following migration and cultural differences between African and Australian societies shaped the experience of belonging. The demographic details of the participants and the identified themes are presented with reference to salient quotations from respondents (Table 2).


**Table 1.** Characteristics of focus group youth participants.


**Table 2.** Characteristics of face-to-face interview participants.
