Articles
A cross-cultural comparison of resilience in adolescents*

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to continue the process of clarifying the concept of resilience in adolescence. At the completion of the first phase of this clarification process in 1997, it became evident that adolescents believed resilience hurt them more than helped them and encompassed such dimensions as self-protection and survival. To gain the broadest understanding of the adolescent's perception of resilience, this study qualitatively explored those perceptions from adolescents in varied socioeconomic and cultural environments. Using a focus-group format, we queried 40 adolescents from New England and Ghana about their perceptions of adversity, overcoming adversities, and resilience. The results indicated that irrespective of age, gender, culture, and socioeconomic status, all the adolescents believed that they were resilient; however, overcoming adversities and being resilient were different depending on the presence or absence of consistent, loving, caring, mentoring adults who helped the adolescent traverse the adversities of life. Those adolescents who were without such support systems (found predominately in the New England sample) showed survival and self-protective forms of resilience, whereas those with such support systems (found predominately in the Ghanaian sample) showed a connected form of resilience. Further research is needed; however, adolescents have given clear messages in two studies indicating that being resilient can hurt them as much as it may help them. When fostering resilience, consideration should be given to what kind of resilience is being fostered. Copyright © 2001 by W.B. Saunders Company

Section snippets

Literature review

The concept of resilience, that is, the process of bending and rebounding to overcome adversity without incurring negative consequences, was first introduced in the early 1980s by Werner and Smith (1982), Garmezy (1983) and Rutter (1985). Werner and Smith's (1982) 30-year ethnographic study of high-risk children in Kauai found that resilient children, in an environment of support, care, and love, could overcome the adversities of their life and be successful adults. Garmezy (1983) and Rutter

Method

Concept clarification is best completed through qualitative methods (Morse, 1989). Given the age and cultural differences of the participants, focus groups were used to gather data about the subjective experience of the ways in which these adolescents had overcome adversity and were resilient. The U.S. and international sites were selected because of the varied perspectives that could be obtained by the adolescents from those communities. Such variety had the potential to add new information

Discussion

What is resilience in adolescents? It appears evident that it is not a process of bending and overcoming adversity without incurring negative consequences. The findings from this pilot study support the findings from prior research that indicate resilience can hurt the adolescent. These findings also support my prior work indicating there may be various dimensions of resilience that include self-protection and survival. Depending on the type, severity, and duration of some of the adolescent's

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    *

    Address reprint requests to Anita J. Hunter, PhD, CNS, CPNP, Assistant Professor, School of Nursing, Clemson University, Edwards Hall, Room 530, Clemson, SC 29634-0743. E-mail: [email protected].

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    Copyright © 2001 W.B. Saunders Company. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.