Resilience to COVID-19-related stressors: Insights from emerging adults in a South African township

There is widespread recognition that stressors related to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) jeopardize the development of emerging adults, more particularly those living in disadvantaged communities. What is less well understood is what might support emerging adult resilience to COVID-19-related stressors. In response, this article reports a 5-week qualitative study with 24 emerging adults (average age: 20) living in a South African township. Using digital diaries and repeated individual interviews, young people shared their lived experiences of later (i.e., month 4 and 7) lockdown-related challenges (i.e., contagion fears; livelihood threats; lives-on-hold) and how they managed these challenges. An inductive thematic analysis showed that personal and collective compliance, generous ways-of-being, and tolerance-facilitators enabled emerging adult resilience to said challenges. Importantly, these resilience-enablers drew on resources associated with multiple systems and reflected the situational and cultural context of the township in question. In short, supporting emerging adult resilience to COVID-19-related stressors will require contextually aligned, multisystemic responses.

Advancing the Study of Resilience to Daily Stressors

Historically, studies of childhood and adult resilience have typically focused on adaptation to chronic life adversities, such as poverty and maltreatment, or isolated and potentially traumatic events, such bereavement and serious illness. Here, we present a complementary view, suggesting that stressors experienced in daily life may also forecast individual health and well-being. We argue that daily process approaches that incorporate intensive sampling of individuals in natural settings can provide powerful insights into unfolding adaptational processes. In making this argument, we review studies that link within-person dynamics with diverse health-related phenomena. Findings from this research provide support for a multiple-levels-analysis perspective that embraces greater unity in pivotal resilience constructs invoked across childhood and adult literatures. Drawing on insights and principles derived from life-span theory, we conclude by outlining promising directions for future work and considering their broader implications for the field of resilience.

431ACEs and Resilience in University Students in the Appalachian Region of the United States

Background Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with health outcomes. Resilience factors provide opportunities to mitigate ACEs. This study aimed to understand ACEs and resilience in students at a university in the United States. Methods Students in the 2018-2019 health explorations course completed an online questionnaire (N = 82). Descriptive statistics were completed for all variables. ACE score was created by adding yes responses to ACE questions (range 0-10). Resilience scores were calculated using the Devereux Adult Resilience Scale (DARS, range 20-46). Simple and multiple linear regression were completed with ACE and resilience as outcome measures. Age, gender, family structure, and profession were used as predictors. Results Mean age was 18.4 (SD 1.9%), majority of respondents were female (89%), white (92.7%), rural (55.3%), and single (95.1%). Mean ACE score was 1.63 (SD = 1.99) with 40% reporting no ACEs, 26% three or more, and 18% four or more. DARS score (N = 77) had a mean of 39.29 (SD = 6.14). Age resulted in a slight increase in ACE score, β = 0.20, p < 0.1, however, none of the predictors were significantly associated with ACE score. Future professions classified as helping professions resulted in a significant increase in DAR score, β = 3.91, p < 0.01. Conclusions The response rate was low (20.5%), however, this pilot study provided insights into adversities and resilience factors of first-year students. Future research should include a larger, more diverse sample. Key messages Understanding ACEs and resilience in college students is necessary to mitigate and address ACEs early in adulthood.

Experiences of COVID-19-related anti-Asian discrimination and affective reactions in a multiple race sample of U.S. young adults

Background Little remains known about both Asian and Asian American (A/AA) and non-Asian young adults’ experiences and affective reactions regarding COVID-19 anti-Asian discrimination. To our knowledge, this is the first study that explores the nature and impact of COVID-19 anti-Asian discrimination within a multi-racial sample. Methods This study uses qualitative open-ended responses from a sub-sample of Wave I of the COVID-19 Adult Resilience Experiences Study (CARES) data collected between March to September 2020. Thematic analysis was used to explore two open-ended questions: “Are there experiences we missed in the survey so far that you wish to describe?” and “What are your thoughts about the current social climate?” The data analysis for this study focused on 113 discrimination or racism-related comments. Results A total of 1331 young adults completed an online survey of which 611 provided comments; a multi-racial sample of 95 individuals (65.3% non-Asians, 24.7% A/AA) contributed 113 COVID-19 anti-Asian discrimination or racism-related comments. Two overarching themes were: types of discrimination (societal, interpersonal, intrapersonal) and affective reactions to discrimination (fear, anxiety/distress, hopelessness/depression, and avoidance). Not only did both A/AA and non-Asian participants report witnessing or hearing reports of anti-Asian discrimination, but both groups described having negative affective reactions to anti-Asian discrimination. Conclusion Anti-Asian discrimination in the face of COVID may be more widespread than initial reports indicate. Our finding suggests that anti-Asian discrimination is a societal illness that impacts all populations in the U.S. This calls for cross-racial coalitions and solidarity in the fight against discrimination and racism.

Measuring Resilience in the Context of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence: A Novel Application of the Adult Resilience Measure (ARM)

There is a rich body of research addressing the issues of conflict-related sexual violence, and a similar wealth of scholarship focused on resilience. To date, however, these literatures have rarely engaged with each other. This article developed from an ongoing research project that seeks to address this gap, by exploring how victims-/survivors of conflict-related sexual violence in three highly diverse settings – Bosnia-Herzegovina, Colombia and Uganda – demonstrate resilience. This research is the first to apply the Adult Resilience Measure (ARM), a 28-item scale that seeks to measure protective resources across individual, relational, and contextual subscales, to the context of conflict-related sexual violence. A total of 449 female and male participants in the three aforementioned countries completed the ARM (in the framework of the study questionnaire) as part of this research. This article presents some of the results of the analyses. Specifically, we first sought to establish through Confirmatory Factor Analysis whether the ARM was actually measuring the same construct in all three countries, by confirming the invariance (or otherwise) of the factor structure. The second aim was to explore how different resources function and cluster in different cultural contexts, to arrive at a more nuanced understanding of the different protective factors in the lives of study participants. We generated different factor structures for BiH, Colombia, and Uganda respectively, suggesting that a single factor structure does not sufficiently capture the diverse groupings of protective factors linked to the particularities of each country, including the dynamics of the conflicts themselves. Ultimately, we use the findings to underscore the need for policy approaches that move away from a deficit model and give greater attention to strengthening and investing in the (often overlooked) protective resources that victims-/survivors may already have in their everyday lives.

Adverse childhood experiences and resilience among adult women: a population-based study

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have consistently been associated with elevated risk of multiple adverse health outcomes, yet their contribution to coping ability and psychiatric resilience in adulthood is unclear. Participants were 19,613 women in the Icelandic Stress-And-Gene-Analysis cohort with complete data on 13 ACEs measured with the ACE-International Questionnaire. Self-reported coping ability was measured with the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale and psychiatric resilience was operationalised as absence of psychiatric morbidity. Compared to women with 0 ACEs, women with ≥ 5 ACEs had 33% lower prevalence of high coping ability (PR=0.67, 95% CI 0.60,0.74) and 56% lower prevalence of high psychiatric resilience (PR=0.44; 95% CI 0.41,0.48). Specific ACEs including emotional neglect, bullying, sexual abuse and mental illness of household member were consistently associated with reduced adult resilience. We observed only slightly attenuated associations after controlling for adult socioeconomic factors and social support in adulthood, indicating that adult resilience may be largely determined in childhood.

Racially Diverse US Young Adults’ Experience of COVID-19-related anti-Asian Discrimination: Types and Emotional Reactions

Objectives: Little is known about both Asian and Asian American (A/AA) and non-Asian young adults’ experiences and emotional reactions regarding COVID-19 anti-Asian discrimination. This is the first study to explore the nature and impact of COVID-19 anti-Asian discrimination through a racially diverse sample. Design: This study uses open-ended qualitative free-text responses from Wave I of the COVID-19 Adult Resilience Experiences Study (CARES) data collected between March to September 2020. Thematic analysis was used to explore two open-ended questions: “Are there experiences we missed in the survey so far that you wish to describe?” and “What are your thoughts about the current social climate?” The data analysis for this study focused on 113 discrimination or racism-related comments. Results: A total of 1,331 young adults completed an online survey of which 611 provided comments; a total of 95 racially diverse individuals (65.3% non-Asians) contributed 113 COVID-19 anti-Asian discrimination or racism-related comments. Two overarching themes were: types of discrimination (societal, interpersonal, intrapersonal), and emotional reactions to discrimination (fear, anxiety/distress, hopeless/depression, and avoidance). Not only did both A/AA and non-Asian participants report witnessing or hearing reports of anti-Asian discrimination, but both groups reported experiencing negative emotional reactions to anti-Asian discrimination. Conclusion: Anti-Asian discrimination in the face of COVID may be more widespread than initial reports indicate. Our finding suggests that anti-Asian discrimination is a societal illness that impacts all populations in the U.S. This calls for cross-racial coalitions and solidarity in the fight against discrimination and racism.

African Emerging Adult Resilience: Insights From a Sample of Township Youth

What enables the resilience of African emerging adults who live in sub-Saharan Africa and must contend with an everyday reality that is characterized by structural disadvantage and related hardship? This question directed the exploratory qualitative research that we report in this article. Its genesis was the relative inattention to the resilience of African emerging adults—that is, young people living in sub-Saharan Africa, aged 18–29. To answer this question, 16 South African participants (average age 21) from a significantly stressed community participated in group interviews and generated digital stories. A deductive analysis of the content yielded the understanding that the self is central to emerging adult resilience. Family members mattered too, but there was scant reference to any other social or ecological resource. These findings urge attention to the dangers to resilience if social ecologies are not resourced to better co-facilitate positive outcomes for disadvantaged emerging adults.

Associations Between Mother–Child Communication Apprehension, and Young Adult Resilience, Depressive Symptoms, and Self-Esteem

This study tested associations between mother–child communication apprehension, adult child communication apprehension, and adult child resilience, self-esteem, and depressive symptoms. Data were collected from 154 mother–child dyads ( N = 308) who completed measures of communication apprehension, depressive symptoms, resilience, and self-esteem. Results showed that mother communication apprehension positively predicted adult child communication apprehension. Moreover, adult child communication apprehension predicted lower levels of resilience and self-esteem, and higher levels of depressive symptoms. Mother communication apprehension indirectly predicted all three psychological outcomes for adult children through adult children’s communication apprehension. We discuss the potential implications for communication apprehension and social skill training that could help families improve psychological problems.