Pathways to Resilience III: Beyond Nature vs. Nurture

Protective Factors for Vulnerable Youth:

Abstract #111
 From MS13 to Al-Shabaab – Global Resiliance: What Are The Similarities and Differences Between Push/Pull and Resiliency Factors Impacting Youth in Highly Vulnerable Neighborhoods?
Presenter: Lainie Reisman Co-presenter: Gustavo Payan
Abstract:
This study compares the push/pull factors that drive youth to engage in violent actions, as well as the resiliency factors displayed by youth that are participating in positive youth development programs.  The paper is based upon the experience of Education Development Center in implementing youth programs worldwide.  The CYRM028 tool and focus group discussions were used to collect data in project sites in both Honduras and North East Kenya, where gang violence and extremist violence are serious threats, respectively.  
The EDC research team began this study with the hypothesis that there are significant similarities, both in terms of the push/pull factors as well as resiliency factors between youth in these two extremely divergent communities, notwithstanding that the types of violence that plague the communities are very distinct.   EDC has the rare opportunity of direct access, combined with established trust, to be able to openly discuss hot-topic issues, like violence and security, with youth in these high-risk communities that have opted to engage in self-improvement training programs, rather than affiliate with violent organizations and and is therefore meant not to identify not what drives youth to become gang members or violent extremists, but rather what are the strongest resiliency factors that youth with similar backgrounds in at-risk communities benefit from, and how these compare from one region to another.

Abstract #209
Children in Foster Care: How the Looking After Children Model Can Promote Resilience 
Presenter: Kathleen Kufeldt Co-presenter: Myrna McNitt
Abstract:
This presentation will follow up on the challenge posed in Professor McNitt’s paper: i.e. how do we reduce the threats to well-being experienced by children needing care and in doing so enhance resilience.  The Looking After Children model was tested and applied in two large scale research and action projects here and in Australia.  The use of this model constitutes guided practice and has emerged as an evidence based, best practice model.  Data from the projects will be presented to demonstrate how its use promotes resilience.

Abstract # 125
Fostering Resilience in High Risk Youth through Leisure and Recreation
Presenter: Joshua Brisson
Abstract:
In the chaotic lives of young people growing up in high risk environments there are seldom opportunities to establish a sense of freedom and self-determination. In the midst of adverse settings, however, leisure and recreation can provide meaningful experiences and a rare source of empowerment for high risk youth, who tend to lack a sense of control in their lives. These experiences also have implications for shaping one’s resilience resources, self-concept, prosocial values, prosocial relationships, and overall life satisfaction. Rooted in a social ecological understanding of resilience, this presentation reports finding from the mixed-method Pathways to Resilience study, Canada, to show how leisure and recreational activities can foster individual, social and physical ecologies that predict positive development in high risk youth.