Participatory Photo-Mapping: Piloting a Method with Mexican American Youth

Background: Mexican-Americans confront numerous challenges pursuing social mobility, including low rates of college graduation and high rates of poverty, critically important social determinants of health. Understanding of how the places youth live impact their social mobility is critical in developing effective place- and policy-based strategies aimed at promoting opportunity and enhancing the health and well-being of Mexican-American youth. Participatory GIS and Photovoice are methods increasingly used to examine how people experience the places that impact their lives since maps and photos can integrate a broad range of information, enriching analyses, and facilitating an in-depth understanding of peoples’ experiences. Methods: In order to gain an enhanced understanding of where mobility is “placed” and how social mobility paths are navigated and negotiated by youth, we engaged 25 Mexican-American youth in a mixed-method Photo-mapping study combining participatory GIS and Photovoice. Preliminary Findings: Emerging themes highlight that youth experience mobility on a neighborhood level (e.g., local community centers), while fundamental aspects of mobility function at a regional level (e.g., transit systems facilitating access to school and work). Youth actively and thoughtfully leverage social and community networks to access mobility opportunities. Lessons learned include the importance of geographic sampling and continued engagement of youth in analyzing spatial data. Discussion: While much is known about the mobility barriers and outcome among second-generation Mexican-American youth, our findings both validate prior research and extend our knowledge by demonstrating the utility of the Photo-mapping method for incorporating the experiential knowledge of youth and informing place- and policy-based interventions.