Identity as Coping: Assessing Youths’ Challenges and Opportunities for Success

The primary goals of this article are to a) highlight ideas which decrease vulnerability and contribute to resiliency – particularly in the lives of minority status youth, b) demonstrate the prevalence of resiliency due to the often unrecognized but persistent ingenuity of youth, and c) highlight how considering and incorporating these perspectives increases the likelihood that supports are experienced as helpful: thereby increasing their effectiveness.

Finally, a conceptual model – the Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory – is presented in an effort to reframe and explain youths’ coping responses and identify development given their physical and social context.