Insights About Resilience in Emerging Adulthood From a Small Longitudinal Study in New Zealand

Abstract

In 1998, 12 elementary school students aged 11–12 years, who were living in a disadvantaged suburb in a New Zealand city, were comprehensively assessed and determinations were made regarding their risk statuses. Ten years later, nine of the participants were located and interviewed and the data were examined using interpretative phenomenological analysis (Smith & Osborn, 2008). Three resilience themes were discerned at Time 2: relationships, contexts of development, and personhood and identity. The combination of quantitative and qualitative methodologies at the two assessment points promoted the derivation of a resilience model that connects relational contexts to executive functioning and purposeful action. The investigation also prompted observations about the contribution of qualitative research to the study of resilience.