| Using a Participant Action Research model, this study explores the experiences of stress, coping, and resilience in a group of Latina adolescent girls participating in Stronglinks, a strengths-focused, school-based girls program. This project aims to understand how girls defined and understood the constructs of stress and coping, ways they coped with stress, and whether aspects of the Stronglinks program they experienced as helpful were associated with factors and/ or systems implicated in resilience development. Both qualitative interview data from pre- and post-Stronglinks participation and scores from a coping checklist were used to explore the girls' experiences. Findings suggest that different types of relationships, including friendships, family relationships, and relationships with boys, were particularly stressful for girls. However, girls in this group also sought support from these very relationships as a primary coping strategy. Other coping strategies included distraction, emotional expression, and daydreaming. Relationship building with both peers and with adult leaders, learning new coping skills, improving self-esteem, and increasing self-knowledge were aspects of the Stronglinks program experienced as most helpful by participants. Ways these identified factors are aligned with resilience development, particularly in the context of the Positive Youth Development (PYD) model are discussed. In conclusion, implications of this project from relational-cultural and ecological frameworks are explored and directions for future research are identified. |
