In contexts of exposure to atypical stress or adversity, individual and collective resilience refers to the process of sustaining wellbeing by leveraging biological, psychological, social and environmental protective and promotive factors and processes (PPFPs). This multisystemic understanding of resilience is generating significant interest but has been difficult to operationalize in psychological research where studies tend to address only one or two systems at a time, often with a primary focus on individual coping strategies. We show how multiple systems implicated in human resilience can be researched in the same study using a longitudinal, six-phase transformative sequential mixed methods study of 14- to 24-year-olds and their elders in two communities dependent on oil and gas industries (Drayton Valley, Canada, and Secunda/eMbalenhle, South Africa). Data collection occurred over a 5-year period, and included: (1) community engagement and the identification of youth health and well-being priorities; (2) participatory youth-centric qualitative research using one-on-one semi-structured interviews and arts-based methods; (3) survey of 500 youth at three time points to assess psychosocial health indicators and outcomes; (4) collection of hair samples to assess stress biomarkers (cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone-DHEA) over time; (5) youth-led ecological data collection and assessment of historical socio-economic development data; and (6) community resource mapping with community elders. Analyzing data from these multiple systems will allow us to understand the interrelationship and impact of PPFPs within and across systems. To date, we have undertaken thematic and narrative qualitative analyses, and descriptive analyses of the preliminary ecological and survey data. As we proceed, we will combine these and grounded theory approaches with innovative techniques such as latent transition analysis and network analysis, as well as modeling of economic conditions and spatial analysis of human geographies to understand patterns of PPFPs and their inter-relationships. By analyzing the complexity of data collected across systems (including cultural contexts) we are demonstrating the possibility of conducting multisystemic resilience research which expands the way psychological research accounts for positive development under stress in different contexts. This comprehensive examination of resilience may offer an example of how the study of resilience can inform socially and contextually relevant interventions and policies.

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Researching Multisystemic Resilience: A Sample Methodology.

In this study, we further developed prior research on risk and protective factors in adolescents’ mental health. More specifically, we used structural equation modelling to assess whether relationships at school with teachers and peers, and life satisfaction predicted mental health in a large sample of adolescents, while also testing for age and gender invariance. The sample comprised 3,895 adolescents (Mage= 16.7, SD = 1.5, 41.3% girls), who completed self-report instruments assessing their perceived life satisfaction, student-teacher relationships, school connectedness, and mental health. Overall, the results suggested that life satisfaction acted as a mediator between adolescents’ positive school relations and their mental health. Outcomes were invariant across genders, while the quality of school relations and mental health declined with age. Limitations of the study and futures lines in mental health research among adolescents are briefly discussed.

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Adolescents’ Mental Health at School: The Mediating Role of Life Satisfaction

BACKGROUND: This study aims to explore the intervention effect of research-based psychological counseling on adolescents' mental health during the COVID-19 epidemic. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: From May to July 2020, 160 young students were selected from 5 middle schools in Shandong Province of China as the participants of this study and were randomly divided into the experiment and control groups with 80 members in each group. The routine in-campus education of health knowledge related to the epidemic was conducted in the control group, while the experiment group received both the routine education and the intervention of psychological counseling in combination with outdoor exercise. RESULTS: No significant difference exists between the experiment and control groups (P>0.05) before the intervention, but the scores of the experiment group in anxiety and depression are lower than those of the control group (P<0.05) after the intervention; the PSQI score of the experiment group is significantly lower after the intervention, suggesting that the effect on the experiment group is better than the control group (P<0.05); the scores of the experiment group in psychological resilience and its 5 dimensions are higher than those of the control group (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: This intervention model has a good intervention effect on adolescents' mental health and psychological resilience. At the same time, this study enlightens the introduction of the research-based psychological counseling model when helping adolescents solve mental health problems and highlights the important role of exercise in improving adolescents' mental health and psychological resilience.

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Intervention Effect of Research-based Psychological Counseling on Adolescents' Mental Health during the COVID-19 Epidemic.

The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of social and emotional learning (SEL) skills and resilience in explaining mental health in male and female adolescents, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Three self-report questionnaires were administered to 778 participants aged between 11 and 16 years (mean age = 12.73 years; SD = 1.73) and recruited from 18 schools in Northern Italy. The SSIS-SELb-S and the CD-RISC 10 assessed SEL and resilience skills respectively, while the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) was used to measure mental health in terms of internalizing problems, externalizing problems, and prosocial behavior. We found that SEL and resilience skills were positively and significantly associated with each other, negatively associated with internalizing and externalizing problems, and positively related to prosocial behavior. Three linear regression analyses showed the significant role of resilience, age, and gender in explaining the variance of internalizing problems; the significant role of SEL skills, resilience, age, and gender in explaining the variance of externalizing problems; and the role of SEL skills, age, and gender in explaining prosocial behavior. Importantly, we found that resilience fully mediated the relationship between SEL skills and internalizing problems, partially mediated the relationship between SEL skills and externalizing problems and didn't mediate the relationship between SEL skills and prosocial behavior. The paper concludes with a discussion of the limitations of the study as well as its practical implications.

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Adolescents' Resilience During COVID-19 Pandemic and Its Mediating Role in the Association Between SEL Skills and Mental Health

A multisystemic perspective on the temporal interplay between adolescent depression and resilience-supporting individual and social resources.

A Cross-Country Network Analysis of Adolescent Resilience.

Resilience refers to the capacity to return to good mental health after being exposed to challenging experiences or environments. Teachers are well positioned to observe and provide support for children and thereby bolster their resilience. Through the development of relationships and mentorships, teachers of mathematics can positively affect the development of children by focusing on and leveraging their strengths to overcome challenges. These ecological constructions of resilience afford a greater responsibility to schools and other environments to support the processes of development with children.

Kingsley G. Hurlington

Papers

A Cross-Country Network Analysis of Adolescent Resilience.

Support to Thrive: Raising Resilience in Students in Secondary Schools