Boarding school experiences and identity formation among adolescents: insights from senior high schools in Ashanti, Central, Greater Accra, and Western regions of Ghana

Boarding schools in Ghana function as powerful social ecologies that structure adolescents’
opportunities for identity formation. This study explores how such environments shape social,
personal, emotional, and gender/sexual identities. A qualitative phenomenological design was
employed, drawing on written narratives from 1,400 students aged 16–19 across ten diverse
schools with at least one year of boarding experience. Data were thematically analysed using
Erikson’s psychosocial theory, Breakwell’s Identity Process Theory, and Nsamenang’s African
developmental perspective. Findings reveal that routines and peer governance promoted discipline,
resilience, and belonging, while surveillance and gendered hierarchies produced shame and
suppression. The study introduces the concept of a bounded moratorium to describe constrained
exploration under institutional control, highlighting its implications for theory and policy reform