Resilience to structural violence: an exploration of the multisystemic resources that enable youth hope

Abstract

Youth in structurally violent environments emphasise hope when explaining their resilience. Even so, the multisystemic resources that enable hope (also over time) are relatively underreported for African young people. In response to this gap, we report a qualitative study that identified the hope-enabling resources that contributed to the resilience of two samples of African youth aged 15–24 and living in the township of eMbalenhle, South Africa. Using Draw-Write-Talk methodology, the 2017 sample ( n = 30; Mage = 18.6; 56% male youth) and 2018 sample ( n = 7; Mage = 18.4; 85% female youth) generated visual and narrative data of their experiences of hope enablers. A thematic analysis showed that a multisystemic mix of contextually relevant resources typically explained youth capacity for hope in the face of structural violence. Four resources informed this mix: personal strengths, faith-based beliefs, positive personal relationships, and tangible sources of inspiration. This contextually relevant mix, and its putative durability over time, has implications for how psychologists and policymakers support youth in structurally violent contexts to be hopefully resilient.