A critical review of studies of South African youth resilience, 1990–2008

Linda C Theron,Adam M.C Theron

doi:10.4102/sajs.v106i7/8.252

Abstract

Given the growing emphasis in research and service provision on strengths rather than deficits, the focus on youth support in the South African Children’s Act of 2005 and the lack of educational, therapeutic and other resources for most South Africans, insight into, and transdisciplinary commitment to, resilience is crucial. Resilience, or the phenomenon of ‘bouncing back’ from adversity, is common to societies that grapple with threatened well-being. Increasingly, international resilience studies have suggested that the capacity to rebound is nurtured by multiple resources that protect against risk and that these resources are rooted in culture. In this paper, we critically reviewed 23 articles that focus on South African youth resilience, published in academic journals between 1990 and 2008. By broadly comparing South African findings to those of international studies, we argued for continued research into the phenomenon of resilience and for a keener focus on the cultural and contextual roots of resilience that are endemic to South Africa. Although international resilience research has begun to match the antecedents of resilience to specific contexts and/or cultures, South African research hardly does so. Only when this gap in youth resilience research is addressed, will psychologists, service providers, teachers and communities be suitably equipped to enable South African youth towards sustained resilience.

Highlights

Individuals, families and communities, worldwide, are increasingly being placed at risk
A critical review of studies of South African youth resilience processes indigenous to South African culture(s) and contexts that nurture resilience among youth
What do cultures teach about problem-solving approaches, assertiveness and system-appropriate behaviour that can be harnessed to promote resilience?

Summary

Introduction

Individuals, families and communities, worldwide, are increasingly being placed at risk. Youth, including South African youth, are not impervious to such risks.[1] One consequence of increasingly difficult lives is the strident call for youth enablement and assistance towards resilience.[2,3] The recent South African Children’s Act (No 38 of 2005) emphasises the responsibility of adults in this regard.[4] if youth are to be assisted towards sustaining resilience, professionals from a variety of youth-focused disciplines (e.g. teachers, psychologists, social workers, clergy and sports coaches) and communities need to develop insight into, and commitment towards, promoting the phenomenon of resilience; more especially insight into the antecedents of resilience that have enabled South African youth, as resilience is increasingly being conceptualised as a culturally and contextually nuanced construct.[5,6] In the following article we review studies of South African youth resilience in order to provide multidisciplinary professionals with such insight and to show that South African studies, to date, have largely failed to describe the cultural and contextual roots of resilience. We use the latter conclusion to urge researchers and professionals towards rigorous reflection on, and collaborative encouragement of, indigenous (i.e. South African) antecedents of resilience

Objectives

Methods

Conclusion