Psychosocial Resilience in Adolescents and Young People
Summary
Psychosocial resilience refers to the dynamic process through which young people facing adversity maintain or regain mental health and adaptive functioning. It emerges from the interaction of individual assets—such as self-regulation, optimism and problem-solving skills—with external resources including family support, peer networks, school environments and community services. During adolescence and young adulthood, when identity formation and social integration are paramount, resilience shapes trajectories of well-being, educational attainment and social inclusion. Protective factors at the individual level include cognitive flexibility, emotional awareness and effective coping strategies. Relational factors span secure attachments, peer mentoring and restorative school climates. At the community level, culturally responsive programmes, accessible mental health services and positive digital spaces foster collective resilience. Importantly, resilience is not a fixed trait but a set of capacities that can be cultivated through interventions at multiple ecological levels. Globally, promoting psychosocial resilience has become central to youth mental health policy, with practical applications ranging from school-based social-emotional learning to digital peer-support platforms.
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Psychosocial Resilience in Adolescents and Young People publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in psychosocial resilience in adolescents and young people across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Psychosocial resilience: the capacity to maintain or regain psychological well-being through the mobilisation of individual and contextual resources in the face of adversity.
Protective factors: characteristics or conditions that reduce the impact of stressors and support positive adjustment.
Adversity: experiences of threat, loss or challenge that can undermine mental health and development.
Bio-psycho-social model: a holistic framework recognising that biological, psychological and social processes jointly influence health and resilience.
International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF): a World Health Organization framework for categorising health and functioning across body, person and societal domains.
References
- Resilience in the face of neurodivergence: A scoping review of resilience and factors promoting positive outcomes. Clinical Psychology Review (2024).
- Online Mental Health Forums and Rural Resilience: Mixed Methods Study and Logic Model. JMIR Mental Health (2023).
- Towards a Transversal Definition of Psychological Resilience: A Literature Review. Medicina (2019).
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