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How coral reefs are helping teenagers to strengthen their resilience
An IfLS-funded project has used data analysis techniques from coral reef science to better understand young people’s abilities to develop resilience.
The pilot project funding enabled IfLS members Professor Anne-Sophie Darlington (Health Sciences) and Professor Graham Roberts (Medicine) to collaborate with marine ecologist Professor Jasmin Godbold (Ocean and Earth Science) and Professor Peter Smith (Social Statistics).
“We knew lots of things support resilience –friendships, a good relationship with parents, having confidence, self-esteem, positive experiences at school – and we wanted to understand which ones are most important,” said Anne-Sophie.
“Ecologists do a lot of work exploring the resilience of ecosystems and Jasmin has an interest in understanding what makes marine organisms and ecosystems resilient to changes such as water temperature.
“We used similar statistical approaches to analyse data from young people to understand their resilience better, exploring tipping points that may turn beneficial influences into negative influences.”
The findings are being used to develop programmes to support young people in building their resilience and reducing mental health problems.
