Electronic Theses and Dissertations (Masters)

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Browsing Electronic Theses and Dissertations (Masters) by Author "Benvenuti, Sabrina Lucia"

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    Predictors of COVID-related Risk and Resilience in South African Young Adults
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-06) Benvenuti, Sabrina Lucia; Cockcroft, Kate
    The Coronavirus Disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has been a lengthy and stressful event for people worldwide, placing increased strain on vulnerable populations. This prompts interest in the field of risk and resilience research. There are several apparent gaps in resilience research such as in the context of a pandemic, and in adult and non-western populations. This research report aimed to identify socio-demographic variables that predict risk and resilience outcomes in young, emerging South African adults, following the COVID-19 pandemic. This study fell into a post-positivist paradigm and used a quantitative, non-experimental, correlational, ex-post facto design. Descriptive, correlational and regression analyses were conducted to identify possible socio-demographic predictors of risk and resilience outcomes in this given population. Overall, the sample population exhibited low-moderate levels of depression, and on average displayed high levels of resilience, overall and across individual, relational and contextual resilience Several significant correlations and predictors, although weak, were identified for the outcome variables of depression (risk) and resilience (at individual, relational and contextual levels) including age, gender and education, pandemic-related and perceived stress, loneliness, parental involvement and warmth, childhood and community experiences. Depression was significantly predicted by gender, perceived stress, loneliness, satisfaction with life and parental involvement, where being female, having stronger feelings of loneliness, and dissatisfaction with life predicted higher levels of depression. Furthermore, parental involvement significantly predicted all five outcomes, where high parental involvement predicted low depression and high resilience across all levels. Perceived stress significantly predicted all but one outcome, namely relational resilience. High levels of perceived stress predicted high levels of depression and poor overall, individual, and contextual resilience. All three levels of resilience were significantly predicted by both parents’ level of education and parental involvement, where levels of maternal education predicted better resilience across all domains, while paternal education had the opposite effect. Identifying such predictors can help to better the knowledge base around risk and resilience in the South African, context and in low- and middle-income contexts. Furthermore, this allows for the targeted implementation of tools and interventions to address these outcomes, such as promoting parental involvement, the implementation of targeted stress-management tools, and more female-focused depression interventions.