Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
11024048 | Children and Youth Services Review | 2018 | 46 Pages |
Abstract
Although a future focus is recognized as a contributing factor to resilience, the content of future focus is seldom explored. Care-leavers in South Africa exit the statutory system and enter into adulthood largely unsupported. Their futures are hampered by limited preparation for leaving care, the absence of follow-up services and contextual factors such as high unemployment rates. Having a well-developed future focus may contribute to better outcomes for care-leavers. Drawing on data from a small qualitative study carried out in four child and youth care centres in a town in the Eastern Cape of South Africa, this article argues that possible selves methods provide a useful tool with which to unpack the content of future focus, and in doing so identify contributors to resilience. Study findings reveal a reciprocal interaction between possible selves and resilience: resilience enablers help to generate compelling possible selves, while possible selves lead to activities that promote resilience.
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Authors
Sue Bond, Adrian van Breda,