Personal resilience and identity capital among young people leaving care: enhancing identity formation and life chances through involvement in volunteering and social action

Abstract

This study explored identity capital and personal resilience among care leavers and young people in care engaging in social activities through volunteering. Care leavers and young people in care are disadvantaged developmentally by lack of identity resources and an accelerated transition to independence. This study analysed material from semi-structured interviews to explore the Identity Capital Model and theories of individualisation, agentic identity development and resilience in explaining the identity resources of young people 2 transitioning out of care. The analysis identified links between the exploration opportunities of volunteering with the development of agentic individualisation and enhanced identity capital. The findings indicate that developmental processes may be enhanced through supported and personalised volunteering opportunities to aid vulnerable young people transitioning out of care. Young people leaving care can make substantial gains particularly in social capital, personal resilience and identity capital. This study indicates that volunteering opportunities for this group of vulnerable young people may assist in compensating for the lack of resources often experienced by care leavers when transitioning to adulthood.

Exploring internal conversations to understand the experience of young adults transitioning out of care

“…Lee and Berrick (2014) explored the potential of identity capital theory to help us understand the differential outcomes for youth aging out of care, highlighting how this model can capture the challenges of adult identity development for this group of young people. Utilising the same model Webb et al (2017) explored how care leavers were affected by engaging in volunteering. Their conclusions suggest that such opportunities helped care leavers address the key challenges summarised by the reviews cited above, particularly building social capital, increasing personal resilience and developing identity capital.…”

Building Bridges into the Community: Social Capital in a Volunteering Project for Care Leavers

“…A bespoke qualitative data collection tool derived from United Kingdom Office for National Statistics (ONS) descriptors for social capital (Foxton and Jones, ) was used to guide data collection; this methodology is detailed further in Webb and others (). The ONS definition of social capital outlined by Foxton and Jones () has the following dimensions: civic participation, social networks and support, social participation, reciprocity and trust, views about the local area.…”

“…In a recently published paper (Webb and others, ), we analysed qualitative data derived from a mixed‐method commissioned evaluation of The Project using these data to test the psychological concepts of identity capital and resilience. The study presented here utilises the same qualitative data set, but differs from the earlier study by conducting an analysis framed by the sociological (and political) concepts of bridging and bonding social capital.…”

Authentically engaging youth with foster care experience: definitions and recommended strategies from youth and staff

“…Research has linked youth engagement to numerous positive outcomes, including academic performance, expectations, and engagement in learning (Fredricks and Eccles 2006;Powers et al 2012); reductions in internalizing and externalizing behaviors and substance use (Zeldin 2004;Fredricks and Eccles 2006;Webb et al 2017); political involvement (Fredricks and Eccles 2006); respect and altruistic behavior (Zeldin 2004;Webb et al 2017); and serves as a protective factor for reduced involvement in risky behaviors (Catalano et al 2004;Zeldin 2004;Powers et al 2012). In addition, organizations that actively involved youth in decision-making experienced positive changes in their organizational culture, with youth-adult partnerships synergizing to help shape the organization's mission, encourage community involvement, and promote interest from funding sources (Zeldin et al 2000).…”