Abstract

MORENO MARTIN, Florentino; CARMONA PARRA, Jaime Alberto  and  TOBON HOYOS, Felipe. Why do girls join Guerrilla and Paramilitary Groups in Colombia?. rev.latinoam.psicol. [online]. 2010, vol.42, n.3, pp.453-467. ISSN 0120-0534.

This study seeks to compare the explanations that the researchers of the phenomenon of child soldiers in Colombia give about the motives for which the minors entered the illegal armed groups with the testimonies of 21 demobilized young girls in Antioquia during 2004. An analysis of content was performed of the empiric research and the successive in-depth interviews in which these girls participated. Testimonies between the girls and researchers coincide in the relative importance atributed to family abuse and the almost null ideological motivation, but there are significant differences with respect to the greater weight attributed by the researchers to poverty, and at the same time the desire of minors to have access to leisure activities like the rush for adventure, entertainment, and aesthetic criteria.

Keywords : Children; war; guerrilla; paramilitary; motivation.

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