Community Resilience Impact on Child and Youth Health Outcomes

Abstract

In this study the authors investigated community resilience from the perspectives of well-defined, geographically bounded neighbourhoods and in relation to factors within them that may mediate, either positively or negatively, child and youth health outcomes. Three socially contrasting neighbourhoods with heterogeneous child health outcomes were selected for study. Within each neighbourhood, adults and 13- to 18-year-old youth were recruited for focus group interviews; in addition, key informants from the educational sector were included in the study. The results provide empirical support to a conceptual model of community resilience that integrates structural and process-related dualisms as well as risk and protective factors for child health. While presenting an integrated model of community resilience, the authors acknowledge the need for studies that further illuminate specific contributions of community and individual factors and their mechanisms in producing child and youth health outcomes.