Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-wq484 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-28T04:06:06.863Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Bungy Jumping Through Life: What Young People Say Promotes Well-Being and Resilience

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2016

Andrew Fuller*
Affiliation:
La Trobe University
Karen McGraw
Affiliation:
La Trobe University
Melinda Goodyear
Affiliation:
La Trobe University
*
School of Psychological Science, La Trobe University Bundoora, 3083. Email: a.fuller@latrobe.edu.au
Get access

Abstract

In considering the applicability of protective factors that have been found in research based largely on Northern American populations to Australian young people, a series of focus groups were established to find out what young people think promotes resilience and well-being. A total of 1447 Year 11 students in Victoria completed a questionnaire which focused on beliefs regarding the factors that promote resilience and well-being. Five main factors were indicated by young people to promote resilience. These were peer connectedness (having good friends), family connectedness (feeling that you are loved by family), feeling that your family respects your decisions, school connectedness (believing that you fit in at school and having good teachers). The current study outlines the factors considered important to the young participants in this study and discusses the implications of these findings for student welfare and the development of programs in schools and communities.

Type
Interventions
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1999

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References:

Benard, B. (1995). Fostering resiliency in kids: Protective factors in the family, school and community. Portland Oregon: Western Center for Drug Free Schools and Communities.Google Scholar
Brooks, R.B. (1994). Children at risk: Fostering resilience and hope. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 64 (4), 545553.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Catalano, R. (1997). Promoting the potential of young people: Communities that care. Presented in Melbourne, May.Google Scholar
Compas, B., Hinden, B.R., & Gerhardt, C.A. (1995). Adolescent development: Pathways of risk and resilience, Annual Review of Psychology, (46), 265-93.Google Scholar
Dodge, K.A., Lochman, J.E., Harnish, J.D., Bates, J.E. & Pettit, G.S. (1997). Reactive and proactive aggression in school children and psychiatrically impaired chronically assaultive youth. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 106 (1), 3751.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eccles, J.S., Lord, S.E., Roeser, R.W., Barber, B., & Jozefowicz, D.M. (1997). The association of school transitions in early adolescence with developmental trajectorie s through high school. In Schulberg, J., Maggs, J.L. & Hurrelman, K. (Eds.) Health risks and developmental transitions during adolescence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Felner, R.D. & Adan, A.A. (1988). The school transitional environment project: An ecological intervention & evaluation in Price, R.H., Cowen, E.L., Lorien, R.P. and Mckay, J. Ramar (Eds.). Fourteen ounces of prevention, (pp. 111122). Washington: American Psychological Association.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fergusson, D.M. & Lynsky, M. T. (1996). Adolescent resiliency to family adversity. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 37 (3), 281292.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fuller, A., McGraw, K., Goodyear, M. (1998). The mind of youth. Melbourne: Department of Education.Google Scholar
Fuller, A., Wilkins, D., & Wilson, J. (1998). Suicidal thoughts and acts in young men: An exploratory study, (unpublished)Google Scholar
Garmezy, N. (1987). Resiliency and vulnerability to adverse developmental outcome s associated with poverty. American Behavioural Scientist, 34 (4), 416430.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gore, S., & Aseltine, R.H. jnr. (1995). Protective processes in adolescence: Matching stressors with social resources. American Journal of Community Psychology, 23 (3), 301327.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hawkins, D., Catalano, R., & Miller, J. (1992). Risk & protective factors for alcohol & other drug problems in adolescence & early childhood: Implications for substance abuse prevention. Psycho-logical Bulletin, 111 (1), 64105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hawton, K., Arensman, E.T., Bremner, S., Feldman, E., Goldney, R., Gunne, D., Hazell, P., van Heeringen, K., House, A., Owens, D., Sakinofsky, I., & Traskman-Bendz, L. (1998). Deliberate self-harm: A systematic review of the efficacy of psychosocial & pharmacological treatments in preventing repetition. British Medical Journal, 317, 441447.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Olweus, D. (1993). Bullying in schools: What we know and what we can do. Oxford: BlackwellGoogle Scholar
Olweus, D. (1995). Bullying or peer abuse at school: Facts and Interventions, Current Directions in Psychological Science, 4 (6),196200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Resnick, M. D., Bearman, P.S., Blum, R.W., Bauman, K.E., Harris, K.M., Jones, J., Beuhring, T.,Sieving, R.E., Shew, M., Ireland, M., Bearinger, L.H., Udry, J. R. (1997). Protecting adolescents from harm: Findings from the national longitudinal study on adolescent health, Journal of the American Medical Association, 278 (10), 823832.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Resnick, M.D.Harris, L.J., & Blum, R.W. (1993). The impact of caring & connectedness on adolescent health and well-being, Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health, 29 (Suppl 1), s3s9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rigby, K. (1996). Bullying in schools and what to do about it. Melbourne: ACER Press.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. (1985). Resilience in the face of adversity, protective factors and resistance to psychiatric disorder. British journal of Psychiatry, 147, 598611.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rutter, M., Maughan, B., Mortimore, P., & Outson, J. (1979). Fifteen thousand hours:Secondary schools & their effects on children. London: Open.Google Scholar
Spaccarelli, S. & Kim, S. (1995). Resilience criteria and factors associated with resilience in sexually abused girls. Child Abuse and Neglect, 19 (9), 11711182.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed