Factors related to the resilience of Tibetan adolescent survivors ten years after the Yushu earthquake

Abstract Resilience is crucial for adolescent survivors' recovery from natural disasters. The holistic empirical studies on multiple influencing factors of resilience among adolescent survivors after natural disasters are rarely reported, especially for those from culturally diverse groups. This study aimed to examine the resilience level and its influencing factors among Tibetan adolescent survivors ten years after the 2010 Yushu earthquake. Tibetan adolescent survivors were recruited from four Yushu middle schools from April to July 2020. They filled in the questionnaires about resilience, academic achievement attribution, academic procrastination, self-esteem, coping style, interpersonal competence, and earthquake preparedness. Independent t-test, one-way analysis of variance, Pearson correlation, and hierarchical regression analysis were used to analyze the data. A total of 559 questionnaires were included for analysis. Adolescents’ resilience was positively predicted by grade (senior two), gender (male), academic performance, effort attribution of academic achievement, self-esteem, problem-focused coping, interpersonal competence, and earthquake preparedness, while negatively predicted by academic procrastination. The investigated factors had an explanatory power of 34.6 %. The resilience of Tibetan adolescents is at the middle level, which is involved with Tibetan culture and psychosocial factors. To design a resilience intervention for this population, trainings on learning competence, self-esteem, coping, interpersonal competence, and earthquake preparedness may be beneficial.