The Study of Youth Resilience Across Cultures: Lessons from a Pilot Study of Measurement Development

Michael Ungar, Roger Boothroyd, Wai Man Kwong, Tak Yan Lee, John Leblanc, Luis Duque, Alexander Makhnach

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Resilience researchers from diverse disciplines and cultural settings face formidable challenges in conceptualizing and developing standardized metrics of resilience that are representative of adolescent and young adult experiences across cultures. We discuss these issues using the case example of a pilot study involving researchers in 14 sites in 11 countries. The goal of the International Resilience Project was to develop a culturally and contextually relevant measure of youth resilience, the Child and Youth Resilience Measure (CYRM). Cultural sensitivity and an iterative research design introduced to the study a number of problems that future studies of resilience will need to address: ambiguity in the definition of positive outcomes; a lack of predictability of models across cultures; and measurement design challenges.

Original languageAmerican English
JournalResearch in Human Development
Volume5
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 1 2008
Externally publishedYes

Disciplines

  • Health Law and Policy
  • Law
  • Medicine and Health Sciences
  • Mental and Social Health
  • Psychiatric and Mental Health

Cite this