Towards a deeper understanding of resilience: Resilient South African township-dwelling adolescents’ understanding of positive adjustment to hardship
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to understand what youths living in townships experience as risks, and how they cope constructively with these difficulties. As a teacher working with township-dwelling youths, I was interested in learning about their resilience. I searched the literature and found that there is a gap in research on the risks facing township-dwelling youths and their resilience in dealing with such (perceived) risks. In particular, there was a lack of studies that explained risk and resilience from the perspective of the youths themselves.
To address this gap, I conducted a grounded theory study which involved 3 cycles of data gathering and analysis. Data-gathering techniques were the draw-and-talk method, semi-structured interviews and a group discussion. Using theoretical sampling, I invited 17 adolescents between the ages of 17 and 19 who were living in townships in the Vaal Triangle area to participate.
The core finding related to parent figures who can be both a source of risk as well as a resilience resource. Particularly parent figures who expect too much from young people put them at risk and this added to the way that domestic duties and unsafe spaces challenged young people’s wellbeing. However, supportive mother figures were seen as pillars of strength who assisted and helped youths through difficult times. In the presence of supportive mother figures, youth resilience was further encouraged by developing agency, inspiring resources and motivational friends. The findings of the study therefore confirm that resilience is a social ecological process which involves interaction between youths and their environment. Allied to this, the findings of the study suggest features that teachers can use as leverage points to support youths from townships to be more resilient.
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