Negotiating Youth Aspirations and Transitions: A Qualitative Life-History Study of Disadvantaged Youth in Kenya

Abstract

Background: Young people across sub-Saharan Africa are entering adulthood through increasingly informal, fragmented, and uncertain pathways, yet little qualitative evidence captures how disadvantaged youth themselves make sense of this process. Methods: Using a life-history design grounded in Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory and the Life Course Perspective, this study conducted in-depth interviews with 19 economically disadvantaged youth engaged in the informal economy in Kajiado county, Kenya. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Results: Three themes were generated: childhood realities and structural disadvantage; aspirations across the life course; and transitions into adulthood under conditions of economic uncertainty. Participants described childhood poverty, educational discontinuity, and family instability as the backdrop against which ambitious childhood aspirations were formed, renegotiated, and eventually redirected toward entrepreneurship and informal livelihoods. Conclusion: Disadvantaged youth in Kenya do not abandon aspiration in the face of adversity; they continuously adapt it. Policies that intervene earlier in the life course and that recognise the informal economy as a legitimate site of opportunity are needed to help translate aspiration into sustainable livelihoods.