Being backed up: accounts by adolescent Bangladeshi boys, of growing up in the East End of London

The present study explores how Bangladeshi adolescent boys describe and represent their experiences growing up in contemporary Britain today. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine adolescent Bangladeshi boys living in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. These qualitative data in the form of interview transcripts were analysed using Grounded Theory methodology. The analysis demonstrated how the notion of reciprocal support (‘back-up’) is a central part of the participant boys’ experiences growing up in east London in 2002. These findings are discussed in relation to other literature and the provision of services for black and ethnic minority adolescents.