The response of youth to racial discrimination: implications for resilience theory

This paper presents a qualitative participatory study of Canadian young people who identified themselves as visible minorities and who have experienced discrimination based on their skin colour or ethnicity. Eighteen participants aged 15–24 (12 girls and 6 boys), representing four ethnic minority groups, participated in focus groups and in-depth interviews and shared their responses to racial discrimination against them. Analysis of the data from the four discussion groups reveals that racism occurs in everyday situations and places, a lot of times manifesting itself as subtle forms of discrimination. Our findings also suggest that most of the participants tend to employ non-confrontational approaches when dealing with racial violence against them, and provide us with the rationale behind their intentions. Further, youth are not uniformly impacted by racialized events, and therefore the coping strategies they use vary based on individual and contextual factors. Three common strategies for healing can be derived from the participants’ narratives: expressive-emotional, spiritual-forgiving and communicative-relational. We discuss our findings in the light of theoretical frameworks of resilience and coping approaches and argue that young people’s subjective appraisals of racialized events as well as contextual factors need to be addressed in any discussion on coping and resilience within minority youth populations.     

The Endangered Empire: American Re- sponses to Transnational Organized Crime

Abstract

Transnational organized crime in the United States represents the dark side of globalization. This chapter attempts to identify the key problems that face US law enforcement in its efforts to cope with the challenges posed by transnational crime. While the realities of global crime require a broad, comprehensive law enforcement response, unfortunately, even in the United States, law enforcement agencies still tend to turn to local organizations and resort to local remedies to combat international criminal activity. In recent years the size of illegal markets and the resources of transnational crime networks have imposed financial burdens on governments that must devote resources to this struggle. Furthermore, the needs for flexible international trade initiatives and commercial investment frameworks makes the task of US law enforcement agencies engaged in criminal containment and control strategies more difficult to develop and sustain. US law enforcement is multi-layered with jurisdictional authority that is sometimes overlapping and reinforcing which in turn strengthens responses to crime. On the other hand, there are serious issues concerning decentralized enforcement authority that affects federal, regional, and state jurisdictions. Complicating matters still further are the external threats that transnational crime poses that lay beyond the official reach of U. S. criminal justice. Other US issues that complicate and indeed thwart adequate enforcement responses include: the politicization of law enforcement budgets and central government allocations of resources for law enforcement which too often depend upon political partisanship and party loyalties. And media-engendered fears about transnational crime phenomena are often confused with genuine social problems such as immigration and illegal aliens. Too frequently, media distort public attention about crime problems such as urban street gangs operating across national borders.     

Mentoring Youth Across Cultures Incorporating Different Worldviews: A Zones of Proximal Exploration Model

Mentoring is an ongoing, regular, reciprocal process of advice-sharing, involving a mentor and a protégé in an agreed pattern over an extended period. In this article the need for cross-cultural, immigrant youth mentoring is demonstrated and acculturation issues in educational, employment, and social and family environments are highlighted. A grounded approach is described using a new conceptual model of zones of proximal exploration drawing on the work of sociocultural, educational, and developmental theorists to incorporate the social context of both parties involved in conjunction with a person-focused approach based on a new behavior motivation matrix and the work of Gardner, Kohlberg, and Maslow.     

Studies of resilience among youth experiencing homelessness: A systematic review

This article systematically reviews studies exploring resilience among youth experiencing homelessness. We searched eight databases, and 21 articles fit the inclusion criteria and represented four methodologies: qualitative (n = 7, 33.3%), survey and secondary data analysis (n = 8, 38.1%), quantitative (n = 4, 19.1%), and mixed-method (n = 2, 9.5%) designs. Studies indicate that youth experiencing homelessness rely on informal social networks for survival, and that spirituality, mental health, and creativity are associated with enhanced coping. More experimental and intervention studies are necessary to support evidence-based resilience practices. Additionally, researchers need to exercise more self-awareness about how stereotypical pejorative paradigms may constrain innovative, strengths-based scholarship.     

Challenges,pride, and connection: A qualitative exploration of advice transgender youth have for other transgender youth

Abstract

Transgender youth experience a variety of risk and resilience factors that impact their wellbeing. However, the research on these factors rarely includes the personal perspectives or authority of transgender youth. To address this gap, we collaborated with a transgender youth advisory board to conduct qualitative interviews with 19 transgender youth (15–22?years-old). Participants lived in two Midwestern states to provide the perspective of transgender youth often missed by research. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis and resulted in three categories of advice: challenges are real, have pride, and you are not alone. Participants acknowledged that challenges are a salient aspect of growing up as a person who is transgender but provided advice for their peers to persevere, feel proud of their identities, and support development and wellbeing through connections to others. Findings provide important implications for practitioners working with transgender youth and researchers aiming to promote resilience and reduce risk. Additionally, providing opportunities for transgender youth to participate in research as the experts and share their perspectives may also help promote resilience.     

Spirituality for Building Resilience in Children of Divorced Parents: A Cross-Country Experimental Study

Based on a post-test experimental study of 1,893 children of divorced parents across 15 countries, I examine influence of a spiritual education program (SEP) on their resilience building. I have used 4 scales to study the resilience and strengths of the treatment group children. Results of the analysis of variance and t test showed that treatment group children scored better on the scales compared to the control group. Through 4 structural equation models, I show that the scores of the treatment group children were influenced by parenting arrangements, economic class, SEP, and self-practice. Children who lived with single parents or had nonresident cooperative coparenting arrangements scored higher on the scales vis-à-vis those who had custodial and frequently conflicting coparenting arrangements or those whose parents had repartnered and they had stepparents. Upper middle-class children responded better to SEP than their elite class counterparts. Further, treatment group children who did 2 or 3 rounds of the SEP during the course of the study vis-à-vis once, and those who said that they self-practiced the program lessons regularly scored higher on the scales. The findings highlight the importance of spiritually sensitive interventions for resilience building of children of divorced parents.     

Beyond resilience: Resistance in the lives of LGBTQ youth

Resilience has come to define a wide breadth of impactful research on marginalized groups, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) youth. This resilience framework shifted the deficit “at-risk” model of research on marginalized populations to a more nuanced strengths-based perspective. In this critical review article, we examine this research trend to understand how the shift to resilience has shaped patterns of LGBTQ youth research. In doing so, this piece calls for a more sophisticated engagement with operationalizing resilience–which is vaguely defined and often upholds dominant relations in society, such as capitalistic, heteronormative values of success and happiness. We show how a shift to understanding resistance, joy, and pleasure in LGBTQ youth's lives promotes a more dynamic and complicated look at how marginalized groups navigate their social worlds and exert power in shaping these worlds. Acknowledging and uplifting LGBTQ youth's resistance and power are necessary in pushing scholarly dialogue and the possible interventions informed by research towards a more fully transformative framework in changing and dismantling oppressive societal structures.     

Journey towards independent living: resilience processes of women leaving residential care in South Africa

Among the many youth transitioning to young adulthood, a group that has been found to be particularly vulnerable is young people transitioning out of care, particularly residential care. Research on this population of youth has burgeoned over the past few decades, but in South Africa it remains limited. This article focuses on the resilience processes that facilitate better transitions of young women out of care and towards independent living. It replicates the research design of a previous study with young men, with the aim of determining to what extent the resilience process of young women are similar to those of men. A sample of nine women was purposively selected, interviewed in-depth and data analysed using grounded theory methods. The findings indicate that the same resilience process found among male care-leavers are evident also in the narratives of female care-leavers, confirming the findings of the previous study. However, these processes had a slightly stronger relational focus among women than was seen among men. The authors conclude that similar resilience-building programmes can be implemented to prepare both males and females for leaving care.     

The Lens of Victim Contests and Youth Crime Stat Wars

In this article I examine Canadian youth crime debates as a way to explore the connection between “victim contests” and “stat wars.” I address how constructing young offenders as either victims or victimizers generates “victim contests,” which in turn serve as interpretive anchoring points shaping how youth crime statistics are interpreted. The numbers themselves do not matter, as underlying assumptions about young offender identity and culpability become a lens through which numbers are understood. In this sense, victim contests generate “stat wars,” involving numbers that act to “make up people.” I also explore some broader implications of these connections, especially given the increasingly actuarial responses to youth crime in late‐modern Western society.     

Evaluation of the What's Real: Myths & Facts about Marriage Curriculum: Differential Impacts of Gender*

ABSTRACT

What’s Real is a high school marriage education curriculum designed to teach students how to develop healthy relationships and marriages. This study evaluated the effectiveness of this curriculum with 206 high school students who were in either the What’s Real group or a control group. Findings suggest that the curriculum increases knowledge of healthy relationship concepts, positively impacts attitudes related to students’ willingness to be involved in pre- and postmarital counseling, and increases students’ attitudes toward cohabitation avoidance. Implications for further development of the curriculum and other implications for practitioners and policymakers are discussed.     

Examining the Relationships Between Resilience,Mental Health,and Academic Persistence in Undergraduate College Students

Abstract

Objective: In this study, the relationships between measures of interpersonal resilience, intrapersonal resilience, and mental health were examined with respect to academic and social integration, key determinants of academic persistence. Participants: A sample (n = 605) of undergraduate students was recruited from 2 midwestern universities during the 2007–2008 academic year. Methods: Hierarchal (or sequential) regression analysis examined whether the inter- and intrapersonal resilience and mental health measures contributed to explaining variance in the response variables of university cumulative grade point average (GPA) and university sense of belonging. Results: The intrapersonal resilience factors contributed to explaining variance in cumulative GPA in addition to aptitude and achievement. Furthermore, there was a strong statistical correlation between the inter- and intrapersonal resilience factors and mental health. Conclusions: The demands in college are significant and there is a need for more research on the concept of resilience as it relates to college health and academic persistence.     

Participation in LGBTQ Organizations in Colombia: Motivations and Impacts

Studies on sexual minorities have shown the positive impact of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, or queer (LGBTQ) community on the well-being of individuals. Few studies, however, have been interested in the role that LGBTQ organizations specifically play. Using a qualitative approach, this article examines individuals’ motivations to participate in LGBTQ organizations and how they think such participation impacts their lives. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 self-identified LGBTQ adults living in the Andean region of Colombia. Thematic analysis with inductive coding was used, and six themes were identified. Within these, two findings are particularly relevant to the existing literature. First, organizations play an important role as educational spaces where individuals can learn about their sexual identity. Second, organizations can also impact families of origin by promoting a better understanding and acceptance of participants’ sexual identity, and by promoting solidarity with LGBTQ community members.     

Project HOPE: Evaluation of Health Science Career Education Programming for Rural Latino and European American Youth

Project HOPE comprises a health science career pipeline program based in social cognitive career theory. The program aims to promote health science career exploration for rural and Latino middle school students while simultaneously emphasizing the importance of achieving in math and science subjects. The authors conducted 2 studies to evaluate Project HOPE using baseline and follow‐up evaluation data. Results of Study 1 indicated that Project HOPE was associated with increases in math/science self‐efficacy for both Latino (n = 42) and European American (n = 31) students. Results of Study 2 indicated that Project HOPE was associated with higher health science career self‐efficacy beliefs for European American students (n = 22) and higher health science career interests for Latino students (n = 28). These results suggest that domain‐specific career interventions for middle school students that focus on jobs tied to the local economy may be a useful way to engage students in career exploration.     

Narratives of Crime and Criminals: How Places Socially Construct the Crime Problem1

A common narrative about crime in the contemporary United States is that offenders are primarily young black men living in poor urban neighborhoods committing violent and drug‐related crimes. There is also a local context to community, crime, and fear that influences this narrative. In this article, I address how narratives of crime and criminals play out differently within particular places. The article is based on participant observation and interviews conducted in two high‐crime Boston‐area communities. Although both communities are concerned with stereotypical offenders, there are differential community constructions of crime, formed through interactions between crime narratives and place identities. In one, crime is a community problem, in which both offenders and victims are community members. In the other, outsiders commit crime against community members. Media portrayals of crime and community, community race and class identities, and concerns over neighborhood change all contribute to place‐specific framing of “the crime problem.” These frames, in turn, shape both intergroup dynamics and support for criminal justice policy.     

Comparing Gender Expression,Gender Nonconformity,and Parents' Responses of Female-to-Male and Male-to-Female Transgender Youth

Abstract

Twenty-four female-to-male (FTM) and 31 male-to-female (MTF) transgender youth reported on their gender development and expression, and parental responses to their gender nonconformity. Both groups of youth felt different from others of their same birth sex at a mean age of seven and one-half years. The age when parents suggested they were different was younger for the MTF than the FTM youth. The MTF youth were called “sissy” at an earlier age than the FTM were called “tomboy.” Parents of FTM youth encouraged them to act in more traditional gender typical ways at a younger age than the MTF. The MTF youth considered themselves transgender two years earlier than the FTM youth. More parents of MTF youth felt that their children needed counseling than the parents of the FTM youth. While the majority of both groups reported past verbal victimization, comparatively more MTF youth reported being physically victimized. Implications of the developmental trajectories and experiences of transgender youth for school and family counselors are discussed.     

Journey towards independent living: a grounded theory investigation of leaving the care of Girls & Boys Town,South Africa

The journey out of care and towards independent living is a challenge for many care-leavers. There has been little research into the social processes involved in this care-leaving journey. This paper presents the results of a grounded theory investigation into the care-leaving journeys of nine young men who had, several years previously, been in the care of Girls & Boys Town in South Africa. Working from a resilience perspective, with an ecological emphasis, four central social processes emerged that together explain the care-leaving experiences of the participants. These processes are striving for authentic belonging; networking people for goal attainment; contextualised responsiveness and building hopeful and tenacious self-confidence. These four processes are located within contextual boundaries and at the social environmental interface. The paper presents these processes in detail, drawing on selected narratives of the participants and integrated with additional theory. It is hoped that this paper may contribute to theory building concerning care-leaving processes and enhance youth care practices for youth in care and leaving care.     

The common-sense model of illness representation: Theoretical and practical considerations

This article focuses on several areas. After reviewing the most commonly used approaches in the study of health behaviors, (e.g., the medical model, the health belief model, and the theory of reasoned action) the common-sense model is presented as an alternative. By presenting evidence across a wide range of illness domains, we demonstrate the usefulness of the common-sense, self-regulatory approach. We then discuss the importance of the common-sense model for health research among minorities. We conclude the article with examples of the operationalization of illness representations in past research and directions for future research.