Protective Factors for Student Resilience

Abstract

Most theorists regard resilience as a process in which the risk factors and the protective factors interact and result in certain specific consequences. The child whose parents migrate for work is in the position of a potential risk factor. Our study refers to the triadic model of the protective factors for resilience developed by Edith Grotberg (1995). Thus, our investigation focuses on the students’ perceptions regarding the availability of some protective factors for resilience such as: - Individual factors (self-esteem, empathy, responsibility, optimism, hope); - Interpersonal skills (ability to communicate about their own problems and ask for help, self-efficacy and self-control, autonomy and problem solving); - A significant social, emotional, and educational support network. The methodology of the study involved the application of a 15-item questionnaire to a batch of 350 lower-secondary-school students, with an average age of 13.2 years. The study aims to identify whether there are significant differences between students in terms of the protective factors for resilience, depending on gender, residence environment, or family situation of having one or both parents working abroad.