Resilience in times of economic boom and bust : a narrative study of a rural population dependent upon the oil and gas industry

dc.contributor.authorMahdiani, Hamideh
dc.contributor.authorHöltge, Jan
dc.contributor.authorTheron, Linda C.
dc.contributor.authorUngar, Michael
dc.date.accessioned2021-06-02T06:49:26Z
dc.date.available2021-06-02T06:49:26Z
dc.date.issued2021-06
dc.description.abstractHow do residents of small towns that depend on oil and gas extraction or processing industries withstand economic boom and bust cycles? To answer this question, this article reports on a narrative analysis of residents’ life stories gathered from 37 adults of a small town on the Canadian prairies dependent on the oil and gas industry, employing the theories of narrative inquiry and narrative identity. Participants aged 30 to 76 were interviewed and their experiences of living in an unstable economy that is dependent mostly on a single resource extraction industry were explored. Specifically, we asked participants about the effect of economic change on factors related to resilience like family interactions, work choices, educational pathways, and the quality of their social lives. Our analysis of adult narratives looked for patterns in the relationship between risk exposure, promotive and protective factors at multiple systemic levels (individual, relational, cultural), and functional outcomes such as individual coping, community cohesion, and social and economic sustainability. Results show that a strong identity, in particular expressions of personal agency, communion, and engagement in meaning making are contributing factors to adult resilience in a context of economic change. Our results also highlight how positive attitudes towards a better future may inadvertently undermine the need for residents of oil and gas-dependent towns to commit to economic diversification and other potential resilience-promoting strategies.en_ZA
dc.description.departmentEducational Psychologyen_ZA
dc.description.librarianam2021en_ZA
dc.description.sponsorshipA DFG fellowship, the Canadian Institutes for Health Research and the Swiss National Science Foundation. Open Access funding by Projekt DEAL.en_ZA
dc.description.urihttp://link.springer.com/journal/10804en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationMahdiani, H., Höltge, J., Theron, L. et al. Resilience in Times of Economic Boom and Bust: A Narrative Study of a Rural Population Dependent upon the Oil and Gas Industry. Journal of Adult Development 28, 149–161 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10804-020-09363-z.en_ZA
dc.identifier.issn1068-0667 (print)
dc.identifier.issn1573-3440 (online)
dc.identifier.other10.1007/s10804-020-09363-z
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/80188
dc.language.isoenen_ZA
dc.publisherSpringeren_ZA
dc.rights© The Author(s) 2020. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.en_ZA
dc.subjectAdult resilienceen_ZA
dc.subjectBoom and bust economic cyclesen_ZA
dc.subjectNarrative analysisen_ZA
dc.subjectOil and gas industryen_ZA
dc.subjectLife-story constructen_ZA
dc.titleResilience in times of economic boom and bust : a narrative study of a rural population dependent upon the oil and gas industryen_ZA
dc.typeArticleen_ZA

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