Resilience in Adverse Contexts
Youth and Clinician Perspectives on Navigating Community Violence
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 15719044 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Angel Boulware (0000-0001-9053-744X, Johns Hopkins University, corresponding author), Deidra Bibbs (0009-0000-6232-9520, University of Chicago) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 122-122 |
| Publication date | 2026-01-14 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Children (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2227-9067 • E-ISSN: 2227-9067 |
| Publisher | Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (PUBLISHER • CH) |
| DOI | 10.3390/children13010122 |
| PMID | 41597130 |
| OpenAlex | W7123702700 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 54 |
Background/Objectives: Community violence remains a pervasive public health challenge that disproportionately affects Black youth, with lasting impacts on physical and mental health. Traditional models often conceptualize resilience as individual "bounce back" capacity, overlooking how adaptation unfolds amid chronic violence and structural inequity. This study examined how Black youth and trauma clinicians understand, navigate, and redefine resilience within contexts of ongoing community violence exposure. Methods: Using a phenomenological qualitative design, the study drew on semi-structured interviews and focus groups with Black youth and clinicians participating in a community violence trauma recovery program in Chicago, Illinois. Data were analyzed thematically to identify patterns in how resilience was described, practiced, and supported. Results: Black youth redefined resilience through adaptive survival strategies-such as hypervigilance, avoidance, and emotional regulation-that functioned as protective responses to continuous threat. Clinicians recognized resilience as relational and context-dependent but reported limited training to address trauma rooted in chronic, community-level conditions. Both groups highlighted the role of collective and structural supports, including family, peers, and community networks, in sustaining adaptation. Conclusions: Findings highlight the need to expand trauma-informed care beyond individual treatment to address structural conditions that perpetuate community violence. Integrating ecological and culturally grounded models of resilience into clinical training and community programming can improve support for Black youth navigating chronic exposure to violence
Community resilience · Focus group · Grounded theory · Mental health · Poison control · Psychological resilience · Qualitative research · Suicide prevention · Child Abuse and Trauma · Gun Ownership and Violence Research · Human Factors and Ergonomics · Migration, Health and Trauma
Phenomenology of Practice
Phenomenological research methods
Psychological resilience
Prevalence of Childhood Exposure to Violence, Crime, and Abuse
Population Research
Resiliency Theory
Community Violence in Context
Development of a new resilience scale
Resilience definitions, theory, and challenges
Relationships, resources, and political empowerment
Saturation in qualitative research
Coping With Violence
Racism as a stressor for African Americans
Culturally compelled coping and depressive symptoms in Black Americans
Building a Contextually-Relevant Understanding of Resilience among African American Youth Exposed to Community Violence
Structural and social determinants of inequities in violence risk
Understanding Structural Violence in Community Violence Intervention (CVI)
Exposure to community violence and depressive symptoms
Understanding violence and developing resilience with African American youth in high-poverty, high-crime communities
Benchmarking Treatment Effectiveness of Community‐Delivered Trauma‐Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
The Effect of Local Violence on Children’s Attention and Impulse Control
Posttraumatic stress symptoms in context
The social ecology of resilience
How Racism “Gets Under the Skin
Using thematic analysis in psychology
Exploring Responses to Community Violence Trauma Using a Neighborhood Network of Programs
Research on the Effects of Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Programs
"Depicting "the system
Urban neighborhoods, chronic stress, gender and depression
It's About Survival
How Many Interviews Are Enough
Identifying Risk and Protective Factors in Research on Mental Health and Black American Adolescents
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |