The magic in the (extra)ordinary: Intensive validation to recalibrate the life-worlds of adolescents exposed to abuse

Abstract

This qualitative case study aimed to explore environmental circumstances and inter-actional processes that appeared to be relevant for the dynamics of resilience in ado-lescents exposed to child abuse. Fieldwork at a learning and coping centre forchildren and their families was combined with semi-structured interviews with ado-lescent participants aged 12 to 18 years. A critical realist approach was used tounpack what has been called the‘ordinary magic’of resilience. We found thatinten-sively validating qualitiesof both theenvironmentandrelationshipsseemed to be driv-ing components for resilience. Borrowing ideas from the sociometer theory, wepropose that particularly the consistent intensiveness may offer arecalibrationof theadolescents' immediate life-worlds, in terms of how they perceive the people theymeet and the environments they step into. In keeping with the transactional-ecological model of resilience, we suggest that such a recalibration leads to alteredsocial agency that becomes visible through their immediate social participation.