Resilience and Culture/Ethnicity Examples from Sudan, Namibia, and Armenia.

N

11

Child Rearing; Children; Coping; Cultural Differences; Cultural Influences; Foreign Countries; Mental Health; Parent Child Relationship; Parenting Skills; Personality Traits; Resilience (Personality)

Armenia; Namibia; Sudan

This study examined cultural/ethnic similarities and differences in ways to promote resilience in children identified in the International Resilience Research Project (IRRP), focusing on Sudan, Namibia, and Armenia. Child resilience was assessed through the child's responses to a hypothetical situation in which a child is teased and frightened by older students and then tells her mother she is ill and cannot attend school. Findings indicated that there were cultural similarities and differences in resilience promotion. Sudanese parents encouraged a sense of autonomy and confidence, Namibian parents expressed love but stressed the need to be responsible, and Armenian parents provided a loving trusting relationship, encouraged autonomy with support as needed, and showed empathy and built confidence. The relative absence of expressing love and empathy in Sudan when children had problems suggested a greater emotional detachment than in the other two countries. Parents and children from each site focused on communication skills and problem solving. Children in Sudan and Namibia solved their own problems by seeking help outside the family or solving the problem alone; in Armenia the interaction between parents and children continued over the course of resolving the problem. Parent actions preventing resilience were similar in each country and occurred in about 30 percent of the responses. The large percentage of children receiving little or no help or support suggests the extent of the need for the promotion of resilience in children. (Contains 11 references.) (Author)

1998

ED417860