Championing the resilience of sub-Saharan adolescents: pointers for psychologists

Abstract

In this article, I argue that an ecological systems approach to resilience – specifically, one that is sensitive to how contextual determinants shape successful adaptation differentially – offers a meaningful way to enable sub-Saharan adolescents to adapt well to the apparently intractable risks to their health and well-being. Accordingly, I draw on studies of child and adolescent resilience from sub-Saharan Africa and the global North to show that the resilience field has largely moved beyond individual-focused theories of resilience that have the (long-term) potential to jeopardize adolescent health and well-being and advance neoliberal agendas. I emphasize that the recent attention to differentially impactful resilience-enablers casts suspicion on incautious application of universally recurring resilience-enablers. Allied to this, I problematize the delay in the identification of resources that impact the resilience of sub-Saharan adolescents differentially. Finally, I distil implications for resilience-directed praxis and research that have the potential to advance the championship of adolescent resilience in sub-Saharan Africa.