Youth and Disaster Recovery: The Power of Narrative, Hope and Opportunity

Promoting resilience among children and youth who have been exposed to disaster has generally been regarded in one of two ways: (1) preventing psychopathology and other poor physical, cognitive, or academic outcomes associated with the stressors of disasters, and (2) promoting adaptation strategies and enhanced self-efficacy.  There is a growing appreciation among scholars and practitioners that children and youth are not simply victims or thoroughly dependent and vulnerable populations, but that they may be agents of their own and others’ recovery.  This is particularly true for adolescents and those on the cusp of young adulthood.  This presentation will review emerging trends in the scholarly literature and highlight several sentinel youth-run or youth-empowered projects that illustrate positive promotive and adaptation-focused strategies.  In particular, the presentation will focus on the research among Gulf Coast youth exposed to Hurricane Katrina and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill that gave rise to the SHOREline youth-empowerment project in five Gulf Coast high schools.  The project will be contrasted with that of a narrative project for youth in Joplin, Missouri, who had been exposed to a devastating EF-5 tornado in May 2011 that destroyed one-quarter of their town’s housing, six of ten school buildings, and killed over 130 people including children.  Both the Gulf Coast and Joplin cases have sought to enhance pro-social behavior among disaster-exposed youth.  The presentation will consider evaluation and theoretical frameworks for assessing the impact of these promotive strategies on children and youth’s post-disaster recovery.