Resilience and creativity in teenagers with high intellectual abilities. A middle school enrichment experience in vulnerable contexts

Abstract

This article presents and describes an extracurricular enrichment intervention program to promote the development of resilient factors, aimed at teenagers with high abilities from vulnerable social contexts. Also, its effects on aspects related to creativity and resilience are explored. This program proposes a series of creative and meaningful activities so that students can explore, experiment, express their emotions and analytically contrast their own identity characteristics with their surrounding reality. A comparative case study was carried out with a mixed methodological approach. Three students (2 men and 1 woman) with high abilities of 13 and 14 years of age, who attended a public middle school located in a disadvantaged sector of the Mexican capital, participated. The program was developed over nine sessions (90 min each), over two months. The quantitative analysis did not show significant differences in the creativity and resilience factors. However, the qualitative analysis of the tasks and products created by the participants has provided positive evidence about the program's contribution to enhance their self-knowledge and coping skills taking in account the adversities of their family, school and social context.