Social-Ecological Resilience of Indigenous Adolescents in the United States and Canada

For the past decade, resilience research with American Indian/Alaska Native and First Nations/Métis/Inuit adolescents has improved our understanding of how adolescents overcome mental health challenges. A new situation-specific theory is presented to guide nurses in applying the evidence to their practice with Indigenous adolescents in the United States and Canada. The social-ecological resilience of indigenous adolescents (SERIA) theory was derived from integrating (a) existing social-ecological frameworks by Bronfenbrenner, Ungar, and Burnette and Figley, (b) findings from a systematic review of 78 studies about resilience factors for mental health of Indigenous adolescents, (c) clinical experience, and (d) Indigenous knowledge.