Insights from Immigrant and Refugee Youth on Resilience through Sport Participation during Adaption to a New Country

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to explore the resilience of immigrant and refugee youth through sport participation as they adapt to a new country. A purposive sample of 15 immigrant and refugee youth participating in a local sport club in the southeastern United States was selected for the study. All of the participants were male and ranged in age from 13 to 18 years old. This instrumental case study involved in-depth interviews with each participant and a group interview with all of them. Inductive analyses yielded two major themes; (a) challenges and (b) facilitators in the new country.

Keywords:

• Immigrant and refugee youth
• sport participation
• resiliency
• cultural adaptation
• youth development