Hey guys, for my IRP I'm conducting research into the effects of relocation on a teenager's wellbeing. If you have moved (suburb/town/city/state/country) as a teenager it would be greatly appreciated if you would complete the questionnaire below:
Age: 16 (17 in April)
Gender: M / F
1. Have you moved before your teenage years? Y / N
2. How many times have you moved as a teenager? Where to (change of suburb/city/state/country) and at what age?
moved age 2 months --> house
moved age 6 --> Lithgow (country town) to Wollongong
moved age 7 --> Wollongong to Lithgow
moved age 8 --> house
moved age 10 --> suburb
moved age 14 --> Lithgow to Bathurst (yes, where the 1000 is held)
possibly moving again this year (DURING EXAMS ARGH STRESS)
3. What was your initial reaction to finding out about the move?
The move from Lithgow to Bathurst, I was really quite excited about. I absolutely hated my school in Lithgow, and most - if not all - of the people there. So really, excited - and, of course, nervous. I was scared that I wouldn't fit in in Bathurst any better than I had in Lithgow.
4. How were your relationships with your siblings affected by the move?
No siblings.
5. To what extent were you able to pursue your interests when you moved? How did this affect your transition?
A lot better. The school I was at in Lithgow had a cruddy English department, and English was - is - definitely my strength. At my new school in Bathurst, the English department is excellent. UAI results are also, on average, much higher. I went from being top of my year to being in the top part of my year. I was able to fit in much better.
6. Who did you look to for help in the early stages of the transition? How did your parents try to help you?
Teachers, old friends, new friends - I made friends with a girl in the summer of my move who turned out to be in my year at my new school, so that made things a lot easier - and my parents. My parents are of the 'just go for it' attitude, while I'm a lot - meeker, I suppose, less confrontational - so they couldn't really help me. They sort of stood back and let me fumble my own way through it. I suppose that made me stronger, made me rely on myself to make friends and struggle through those tough first few weeks.
7. What assistance was available to you to aid your transition into the new community? How effective was it?
I had a designated 'Buddy' at my new school. She sort of... okay, well, she abandoned me after the first day - almost the first hour. But others' Buddies were good, and I latched on to one of my friends when she came back - the abovementioned summer holiday friend - and tagged along with her group. So, all in all, my experience could have been better, but I coped.
8. How difficult was it for you to fit into the school community initially (as far as friends and schoolwork are concerned)? What do you think was responsible for this?
It was a little difficult, as year nine is pretty much the year where everyone's friendships are already set in stone and all the groups try to out-bitch each other. I remember a couple of lonely lunchtimes before the girl I sat next to in Maths offered her hand in friendship. I think my own attitude, and the fences-up-we've-been-together-since-pre-school attitudes of the other year nine girls was definitely responsible for my initial difficulty to fit in. It's still difficult at times, two and a half years later - there's always something they've done that I haven't - and sometimes it's like we did in fact grow up together. Day to day, you know?
9. How do you feel your self-esteem was affected by the move?
I think initially it went down, then it definitely rose. I'm far more confident now than I ever was in Lithgow. Of course it went down in the first few weeks/first month, because I just didn't fit in with them. I hadn't gone to the same primary schools, I hadn't done the first two years of high school, the bonding years, with them, I didn't even know the school song or the teachers or anything. Once I learned the rules of the school, and had a few friends; that was when it started to rise.
10. How do you feel your sense of belonging was affected by the move? (How long did it take for you to feel like you belonged in the community or in a peer group?)
It took a few weeks, a few months - a few years, even. Just today, two and a half years after I came to Bathurst, they were talking about something that had happened in primary school, and I was sitting there with a frozen face, thinking 'um, what?'. And a few minutes later, we were all talking about the silly actions to a hymn we'd sung in Mass as children, even me. As I said above, it's day to day, you know?
11. Do think the move has affected the way you interact with others (family and peers)? How?
Yes, it has. I'm more confident in my own abilities now. I remember being a loud, crazy kid in primary school, then when I reached year seven all of that just disappeared. In about year ten I felt craziness come back to me - like slipping on an old pair of shoes. I was so shy at my first high school in Lithgow; even depressed. Once I moved schools, well, it took a while, but I slowly changed back to how I used to be.
12. Who would you go to first for advice: friends or family? Why?
Friends, definitely. My family has always encouraged me to be independent, so I feel sort of uncomfortable asking them for advice. But my friends are usually going through the exact same things that I am, and are in fact asking me for advice at the same time, so it's easier to go to them.
13. What was challenging and rewarding about the move?
Challenging: starting again from scratch, new house, new friends, new town. I knew one person at my new school, so I had an advantage over those who knew none, and it was still challenging.
Rewarding: sorry to say, but starting again from scratch - new house, new friends, new town. New me, really.
14. Where do you think of as home?
Bathurst. Though recently, that's beginning to change, to itch, even... I'm getting the going away to uni bug!
15. Do you see the moving experience as positive or negative? Why?
Positive. I don't miss Lithgow at all. If my father and grandparents didn't live there, I would never go back.
16. Has the moving experience helped or hindered your personal and academic development? Please explain.
Helped. My new school has a far higher standard of academic excellence than my old one, and I'm being pushed to achieve to my very highest potential. My personal development has been helped too, as I've been forced to make all new friends and handle all new situations; sort of like an ultimate test of how well you can cope in a new environment, isn't it?
17. Would you consider moving as an adult? Why/why not?
Well, I'm going away to uni; I'm not staying in Bathurst. Even if I don't get into uni, I'm not staying. I have the travelling bug. I think I will probably move around a bit as an adult. I get restless: since I've lived in Bathurst, I've rearranged my entire bedroom five times, never the same way twice (that's in two and a half years). I think moving so much has permanently shaken up my settling-down-urge. It's not a bad thing, not at all. I'm a free spirit.
