Narratives, Religion, and Trumatic Life Events Among Young Adults
Issue Date
2014-01-01Author
Mooney, Margarita
Publisher
Department of Sociology, University of Kansas
Type
Article
Article Version
Scholarly/refereed, publisher version
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
This paper contributes to the growing sociological interest in resilience by using a virtue ethics framework to examine
distinct ways young adults respond to stressful life events. Based on interviews with 26 young adults in nine U.S. states, I
argue that resilience differs from coping. Coping implies people have mitigated the negative effects of a traumatic
event. I define resilience as a dynamic process oriented toward a telos that encompasses both personal wellbeing and
contribution to the common good. Although we know that strong interpersonal, community and spiritual ties support
resilience, many of the young adults I interviewed had few strong social connections of any kind. Few of the 26 young
adults I interviewed were religious in traditional ways. Those few young adults who attended services weekly and received
social support from their religious congregations experienced high levels of wellbeing despite experiencing many hardships. Even among those who are not religious in traditional ways, nearly all of them ask moral questions about meaning and purpose. Studies of resilience should thus consider both individual and social factors that lead to or inhibit
experiencing growth after a traumatic event.
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Citation
Social Thought and Research, Volume 33 (2014), pp. 45-82. DOI:10.17161/STR.1808.18445
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