Well-being and Resilience in School Settings

Abstract

Many of the challenges that young people face today are much the same as those experienced by previous generations. These challenges include their search for identity and independence as they develop and grow from childhood, to adolescence and into adulthood. However young people today also face new challenges such as: higher levels of family break-up; family relocation and blended families; more pressure to complete higher levels of education; managing social media and cyber safety issues and for many in urbanised societies less connection or sense of belonging to their local community. Over the last decade many countries have also experienced an increase in both natural and man-made disasters. Illustrative of these disasters is the 2(X)1 terrorist attacks on the USA, the 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami, the 2011 New Zealand and Turkish earthquakes and a series of catastrophic bushfires and floods in Australia between 2009 and 2011. There have also been ongoing civil wars and conflicts in the Middle East, Africa and in other parts of the world and a worldwide global financial crisis that that began in 2008 and continues today. These challenges place great pressure on governments and their capacity to meet the needs of their people. There is a strong likelihood that many of these national and international events and circumstances will be either repeated or ongoing and significantly impact on every nation. This chapter explores the implications of these events on the well-being and resilience of young people. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved). (chapter)