Cross-Cultural Study of Resilience has Implications for Children of America

Local Child Psychologist, Dr. Beverly Tignor (beverlytignorphd.com), traveled with the Foundation for Peace (foundationforpeace.org) to Nairobi, Kenya to evaluate 72 children living in the slums and suburbs of Nairobi. Many of the children were orphans or refugees, suffering from complex trauma due to death and displacement from family members related to HIV/AIDS, genocide, terrorist attacks precipitated by political unrest, and extreme poverty.

"Resilience in psychology is the positive capacity of people to cope with stress and adversity. It is a process rather than a trait, and is heavily influenced by individual coping strategies which may be learned, and by support from families, schools, and communities.

In the Kenyan study, it was anticipated that poverty conditions and exposure to complex trauma in the lives of children would result in less protective strength and increased vulnerability to stress compared to children in the US normative sample. The results of the study supported this hypothesis. Those youth who tended to be less vulnerable than one would expect based upon their living conditions had varying degrees of support from indiviudal sponsors and helping organizations. The most vulnerable youth in terms of her resiliency profile was a 14-year-old girl who came to the orphanage emotionally depleted after living on her own with no family contact and no means of support for more than a year. When retested in 6 months after her arrival, she was able to bounce back. Her scores on resiliency measures improved signficantly, suggesting the positive effect of the support she had been given.

All children can benefit from developing the personal qualities which make one resilient. These personal qualities include a sense of mastery and self-efficacy and strong relatedness skills. Resilient children are often those who are able to seek and find support from nonparental adults such as a teacher, counselor, minister, or neighbor. These children are not especially popular, but are able to choose a few good friends and maintain those friendships over time. Research suggests that these relationships can serve as a buffer in times of adversity, reducing one's vulnerability to the stress at hand.

Dr. Tignor will be presenting her study at a local "wine and cheese" fund raising event for the Foundation for Peace on Sunday June 9th 5-7pm. Funds will be used to complete the next phase of building to complete a church and community center which will serve the needs of people living in the large slum area Mathare North in Nairobi, Kenya. If interested in attending, you may contact Dr. Tignor at drbeverly_tignor@comcast.net.

The full study is publiushed in Prince-Embury, S. & Saklofske, D. eds. (2013) Resilience in Children, Adolescents, and Adults: Translating Reserach into Practice. New York: Springer, pp257-278.