RESILIENCE OF GIFTED ADOLESCENTS. SOCIAL AND EDUCATIONAL PROTECTIVE FACTORS

Authors

  • Mădălina Simona IORDACHE Social worker, Save the Children, Iași, Romania

Keywords:

adolescents, resilience, giftedness, educational environment, institutionalization

Abstract

Institutionalization is one difficult moment in anybody’s life. This study has identified the protective factors manifested by gifted resilient adolescents after being institutionalized. The two-stage research was conducted in Iași (between November 2015 – June 2016) and had a quantitative component (based on questionnaire analysis) and a qualitative compo-nent (based on interview analyses). The resilience of adolescents is the result of three types of factors: internal characteris-tics, family-related characteristics and social environment characteristics. This study has identified the following external protective factors: a supportive family, a school environ-ment providing information according to the capacities and interests of the gifted adoles-cents and a residential environment providing opportunities for self-exploration and conti-nuous development. Another important external factor is the group of friends, a source of affection, sympathy and moral guidance, a proper space to experiment and to gain auton-omy and independence from parents. The internal protective factors identified are: a good self-image, awareness of one’s individual abilities and their valorisation, motivation, a high degree of emotional develop-ment, the ability to be aware and express their own emotions, as well as a high level of self-efficacy. All these factors were identified in adolescents that achieved high scores on the resilience scale. In addition to internal and external factors, an important aspect is the perception of adolescents about these factors. The way adolescents relate to similar situations is different, so the consequences of the same event differ greatly from one adolescent to another.

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