Dealing With the Consequences of War: Resources of Formerly Recruited and Non-Recruited Youth in Northern Uganda

Abstract

This article explores resources that help formerly recruited young people in dealing with war-related adversity and subsequent challenges, hence fostering their resilience. Self-reports on pertinent resources were collected from 1,008 northern Ugandan youth, of whom 330 had formerly been recruited by the Lord's Resistance Army. Based on the conceptual framework developed by the Psychosocial Working Group, the reported resources were thematically clustered and quantitatively analyzed. This study identified a range of human, social, and cultural resources, with little difference between groups. Religious beliefs, social support, and mental health resources were most frequently reported by former child soldiers. These results reveal a multitude of resources and suggest that it is important to build on these resources in interventions that aim to support former child soldiers in the aftermath of armed conflict.