Abstract
The experience of orphanhood is associated with multiple stressors, including the disintegration of the immediate family, changes in living arrangements, access to material resources, and alternative carer relationships. However, orphanhood also presents opportunities for personal growth and development. The resilience processes of Zimbabwean teenagers with orphanhood are incompletely understood. This chapter reports on a survey with 18 such youth to consider how these youth negotiate Ungar et al.’s seven tensions in a collectivist cultural context in which the extended family is the default primary care provider. Findings foreground that youths’ resilience processes are supported by a broad collectivistic cultural template rooted in extended family obligations and church belonging, that seemed to be similar for youth from rural and urban areas.
Reference to teenagers with orphanhood rather than orphaned teenagers is respectful of teenagers by placing the person before a social construction he/she may or may not identify with (see also Mpofu & Conyers, 2004).
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Mpofu, E., Ruhode, N., Mhaka-Mutepfa, M., January, J., Mapfumo, J. (2015). Resilience Among Zimbabwean Youths with Orphanhood. In: Theron, L., Liebenberg, L., Ungar, M. (eds) Youth Resilience and Culture. Cross-Cultural Advancements in Positive Psychology, vol 11. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9415-2_5
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