Parent-figures and adolescent resilience: an African perspective

ABSTRACT

This article’s purpose is directed by three, previously unanswered questions. First, which parent-figures (i.e., biological and social parents), if any, do adolescents from two disadvantaged communities in South Africa identify when they explain the process of their personal resilience? Second, do rural and urban adolescents report the same parent-figures? Third, how do these parent-figures champion resilience and in what ways (if any) does context influence this championship? To answer these questions, we (the authors) conducted a deductive, secondary data analysis of visual and narrative data generated by two samples of adolescents. The rural sample (n = 133; average age 16) included 82 girls and 51 boys. The urban sample (n = 385; average age 14) included 225 girls and 160 boys. More rural adolescents included parent-figures in their resilience accounts, but rural and urban adolescents reported the same parent-figures. In general, parent-figures facilitated adolescent access to material resources; co-regulated adolescent behavior in culturally- and contextually-relevant ways; and offered comfort. Rural/urban locality and the sex of the adolescent nuanced how parent-figures co-regulated adolescent behavior. These results compel attention to the resilience of parent-figures and prompt three practice-related implications for educational/school psychologists who wish to champion the resilience of African adolescents.

KEYWORDS:

• Black South African adolescent
• father-figure
• mother-figure
• resilience

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the International Development Research Center [104518-015]; National Research Foundation [IFR2011041100058].

Notes on contributors

Linda Theron

Linda Theron (D.Ed) is a full professor in the Department of Educational Psychology/Center for the Study of Resilience, Faculty of Education, University of Pretoria, and an extraordinary professor in Optentia Research Focus Area, North-West University, South Africa.

Angelique van Rensburg

Angelique van Rensburg (PhD) is a research fellow in Optentia Research Focus Area, North-West University, South Africa.