Living with experiences of disaster and extreme interpersonal violence: A systemic study on daily protective processes and factors of adult resilience

The past of Native Hawaiians is marked by cultural genocide, racism, subjugation, forced assimilation, loss of self-identity, and the abolishment of their native practices. Today, they are a minority in their home country, experience stigmatization and marginalization, and they are born in set social-economic disadvantages. Living well with these historical and current challenges in the environment where they happen(ed) significantly depends on the risks and resources that characterize daily life. Such resources are found within the individual (e.g., traits, emotions) as well as in the environment (e.g., family, work, community, physical environment) and form a network of mutually dependent, interacting resources. Together, the daily processes between the needs and abilities of an individual to be resilient and the opportunities and challenges of its environment determine an individual’s resilience. It is crucial to detect these daily protective processes and factors that help affected persons to succeed in their everyday life while also identifying those that negatively influence daily functionality and wellbeing. Surveys, interviews, and a measurement-burst diary study that applies the day reconstruction method will explore the daily life of adult Native Hawaiians living in Hawaii, USA. 60 participants will be assessed for three random days of each first week of each month over a period of 12 months. This project will examine daily resources of different systems (psychological, physical, social, work, community, ecological) and how their interplay constitutes individual resilience. The aim is to show that resilience in the context of historical trauma and its lasting effects on present daily life relies on the interplay of all that constitutes daily life. Thereby, it explores which internal and external resources play key roles for a functional interplay of these daily patterns. Hence, this project is of high significance to challenge the still common praxis of placing the responsibility to be resilient on the individual by showing the critical role of meaningful social-ecological resources for a person’s resilience next to internal resources. Also, to advance the dominating western models of resilience, it will explore resilience-fostering factors and processes that are specific to Native Hawaiians. The results will show that a functional interplay of different resource systems is key to resilience and which resources are essential for an effective and sustainable resource network in daily life. Finally, this project will support Native Hawaiians in their current re-discovery of their own identity and culture.