Gender-sensitive resilience support for girls in adolescence

As if it were a simple magic word that enables people to survive the most difficult life circumstances the term resilience is currently experiencing a boom. However a clear and binding definition of the term remains controversial. This is because a resilience process is highly complex and linked to risk and protective factors at various levels. Where a person comes from how old they are and what gender they are also play a decisive role. Nevertheless the connection between resilience and gender has hardly been considered to date. Against this background this book deals with the connection between resilience processes and the female gender particularly in the phase of adolescence. The current life situations of adolescent girls in a postmodern German society are analyzed with regard to aspects of this phase of life that promote and reduce resilience. Finally a connection to practical social work is established by linking the theoretical findings with the concept of gender-sensitive work with girls in the context of open child and youth work (OKJA).