The Role of Individual and Contextual Characteristics in Predicting Resilience Among Child/Teens Living at Family-Like Community Centers

Introduction: Resilience, as a positive psychological construct, has gained significance in psychological research. The main goal of the current study is to identify the role of individual and contextual characteristics in predicting resilience among child/teens living at family-like community centers. Methods: This study is cross-sectional-descriptive with the correlational method. The participants of this study included a hundred and forty boys and girls between age nine to eighteen who lives in family-like community centers, who were selected through simple random sampling method. In order to collect data, resilience scales of children and adolescents (RSCA), inventory of peer attachment (IPA), area-specific self-esteem scale, Raven progressive matrices, and a researcher-made questionnaires were used. The collected data were analyzed using regression and correlation tests. Results: The results revealed that the variables of peer attachment and self-esteem were positive predictors and the variables of age and the length of prior living with the mother were negative predictors for resilience among children and teenagers at family-like community centers. Conversely, the variables of age and the length of prior living with the mother were positive predictors, and the variables of peer attachment and self-esteem were negative predictors of vulnerability among children and teenagers at family-like community centers. Conclusions: The results of the current study, besides enriching the theoretical discussions in the field of resilience, with the identification of individual and contextual characteristics which can be predictors of resilience among children and adolescents at family-like community centers; could provide practical proceedings for such centers.