Research study into Resilience in Young People
The study considered the various factors that build resilience in young people, including how the interventions delivered through targeted youth services (TYS) impact on young people’s lives.
The findings from the report were:
- Youth resilience is a complex social characteristic that is dependent on a multitude of factors associated with an individual, their relationships, social networks and various contextual realities.
- Youth resilience is not an inherent character trait; rather the product of the external support systems surrounding the individual and their interaction with these.
- It is challenging, if not impossible, to make a single or overall judgement on what affects the resilience of a young person, not least as the balance between risk and protective factors is highly contextual; what can be a protective factor for one person can be a risk factor for another.
- Youth resilience is a term that should be used with care.
The research included mapping out the factors that impacted on resilience and how these inter-connected. See map below.
Next steps
The next stage of the project will be to use the findings to identify any opportunities to build on current youth service provision to ensure the insights from the research can be integrated into the valuable work of youth worker practitioners.
Three undergraduate Research Assistants are currently working with Creative Youth Network to scope this phase of the project and establish the next steps.
