Perceptions of Resilience in School-Age Children: A Singapore Study.

TLDR: Seng et al. as discussed by the authors found that children draw from three sources of resilience to cope with adversities: who and what these children have around them, who these children ARE, and what and how they CAN do certain things for themselves.

Abstract: Resilience is a quality that characterizes children who, though exposed to significant stress and adversity in their lives, do not succumb to the school and life failures predicted for them Recent research (Grotberg, 1995; Hiew & Cormier, 1994) suggests ways that schools and communities can protect children from the threats that confront individuals and families This paper reports results of an ongoing study on promoting resilience in children in Singapore Thirty-nine school-age children from a school-age care center were administered a resilience checklist (Child's Perception ofResilience Checklist by the International Resilience Research Project, 1995) and interviewed about their perceptions of resilience Preliminary fmdings indicate that children draw from three sources of resilience to help them cope with adversities The three sources are based upon who and what these children HAVE around them, who these children ARE, and what and how they CAN do certain things for themselves This study also suggests that an ethnographic approach to data collection can provide meaningful information Resume La resilience est une qualite qui caracterise les enfants qui, meme s'ils sont exposes au stress eta l'adversite dans leur vie, ne succombe pas a des echecs a !'ecole et dans leur vie Des recherches recentes (Grotberg, 1995; Hiew & Cormier, 1994) suggerent des fa9ons avec lesquelles les ecoles et les communautes peuvent proteger les enfants des menaces qui les confrontent, eux et leur famille Ce manuscript rapporte les resultats d'une etude en cours sur la promotion de la resilience chez des enfants de Singapour L'administration d'une liste de verification sur la resilience a ete realise sur trente-neuf enfants d'age scolaire d'un service de garde en milieu scolaire (La Liste de Verification de la Perception des Enfants de leur Resilience a ete realise par le Projet International de Recherche sur la Resilience, 1995) Des entretiens individuels ant aussi realise avec ces enfants afm d' en sa voir plus sur leurs perceptions de la resilience Les resultats preliminaires indiquent que les enfants font appel a trois sources de resilience pour les aider a faire face aux adversites Les trois sources dependent de qui et de quai ces enfants ant autours d'eux, qui ces enfants sont, et quai et comment ils peuvent se faire certaines chases a euxmemes Cette e~de suggere aussi qu'une approche ethologique, pour la collecte des donnees, peut fournir des informations utiles Correspondence should be addressed to: Seok-Hoon Seng, Nanyang Technological University, National Institute of Education, 469 Buldt Timah Road, Singapore, 1025 Tel: 65-4605050, Fax: 65-4699007, E-mail: singsh@NIEVAXNIEACSG