Understanding Resilient Outcomes: Adolescent Lives Across Time and Generations

Abstract Described is a new direction we are taking within our long-term longitudinal study of high and low risk adolescents. Through new questions and analytical approaches, we are addressing unexpected young adult outcomes: successful developmental adaptation despite serious prior risks and adversity. Our overarching goal here is gaining more complete understanding of how resilient development unfolds. Using a person-based follow-back design, we examine—through narrative analyses—previously recorded annual adolescent interviews with competent young adults who experienced significant misfortunes during their early and middle adolescent years. After briefly reviewing alternative ways of studying resilience, 3 aspects of our resilience project are presented: (a) how we identify the "competent" young adults from our high-risk adolescent sample, (b) our method for analyzing personal narratives embedded within the many hours of each competent (and average) outcome participant's interviews, and (c) our first results—8 content and structural themes involving individual constructions of self and relationships. To illustrate these methods and preliminary findings, narratives of 1 resilient young adult are explored, stretching from her troubled adolescent years to her young adult years, as she now deals with new challenges of being a spouse and parent. Implications of our utilizing quantitative and narrative analyses are then considered to pursue daunting questions about how some individuals defy the odds.