Sources of Resilience in Early Adolescent Survivors of the Lombok

2018 Earthquake: Qualitative Study in Dangiang Village, North

Lombok

Levina Sandra Supadi, Penny Handayani, and Yohana Ratrin Hestyanti

Faculty of Psychology,

Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia Jakarta, Indonesia

Keywords: Sources of Resilience, Early Adolescence, Natural Disasters, Earthquakes.

Abstract: This study aims to describe the sources of resilience possessed by early adolescent earthquake survivors in

Dangiang Village, North Lombok. This research used a qualitative approach with an in-depth interview

method. Research respondents were early adolescents aged 12-15 years. Deep interviews were conducted for

3 participants, and validation interviews were conducted for six significant others. The results showed that

every participant has three sources of resilience, which are "I have" (external support), "I am" (personal

strength), and "I can" (social and interpersonal skill). Even though the three participants lived in the same

village and felt the same earthquake, they had different results from the three aspects "I have", "I am", and "I

can". This research found out that family interaction is an essential source of the participant's resilience. The

findings also suggest that access to health facilities, education, security services, and religious activities in the

village community helped strengthen the participants' resilience. Specifically, religious activities in the

community contribute as a collective way of coping after the earthquake. Knowing the description of the

sources of adolescent resilience is important because it helps to see the possibility of individual resilience in

the future and to know what support young people need to become resilient.

1 INTRODUCTION

Indonesia is located at the confluence of three of the

world's main plates, namely Eurasia, Indo-

Australian, and the Pacific. As a result, Indonesia is

at an earthquake-prone point (Suhanda, 2011). In July

and August 2018, there were multiple powerful

earthquakes in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara. One of

the villages that suffered the worst impact was

Dangiang Village in Kayangan District, North

Lombok. Dangiang Village consists of 10 hamlets

with a total of 2,813 residents (Mardinata, 2018).

Houses and public facilities such as schools and

health centers in Dangiang Village were destroyed by

this earthquake. As a result, all residents of Dangiang

Village had to live in refugee camps, and daily

activities in this village could not be carried out.

Rice (1999) states that uncontrollable and

unpredictable events such as natural disasters are

more likely to cause stress. Traumatic events such as

disasters that occur in individuals can interfere with

their defenses. Disrupted self-defense automatically

affects self-functions that can have an impact on

various aspects of life (Freud in Kleber & Brom,

1997). However, a natural disaster affects not only

individuals but also an entire community. The

community consists of individuals in which when

everyone feels the negative impact of an event, the

community also becomes less optimistic (Zubenko &

Capozzol, 2002).

Child Trauma Academy (2002) points out that

someone who experienced a traumatic event as a

child has a greater risk of experiencing problems such

as impaired emotional, social, cognitive, and

physiological functions in the future. Tackett (2005)

says that children and adolescents feel a greater

impact than adults when experiencing a traumatic

event. Further, Tackett adds that adolescents may feel

a greater impact when compared to children because

they have begun to draw conclusions and understand

the long-term impacts that may occur after a disaster.

It makes adolescents have anxieties about their future

after the disaster.

Supadi, L., Handayani, P. and Hestyanti, Y.

Sources of Resilience in Early Adolescent Survivors of the Lombok 2018 Earthquake: Qualitative Study in Dangiang Village, North Lombok.

DOI: 10.5220/0010805200003348

In Proceedings of the 3rd Annual International Conference on Social Sciences and Humanities (AICOSH 2021), pages 101-105

ISBN: 978-989-758-603-3; ISSN: 2685-273X

101

Erikson (in Santrock, 2005) says that adolescents

are undergoing a stage of searching for self-identity,

which includes searching for who they are, their

uniqueness, purpose in life and their role in the

environment. Adolescents need support from their

families and a stable environment as a place for them

to explore. However, in post-disaster conditions,

sometimes adults misinterpret the adolescents'

behavior. Hestyanti (2014) said that adults often think

that when children and adolescents start playing and

smiling, it means that they have not experienced

trauma reactions. The condition of adolescents'

trauma reactions is also often ignored because adults

are busy rebuilding their life after a disaster. This

circumstance can worsen the negative impact on

adolescents.

In addition, the transition period from childhood

to adulthood is also a challenge for adolescents in

Dangiang Village. Some of the adolescents that the

researchers met decided not to participate in

psychosocial activities organized by the volunteers

because they felt they were too 'big' or mature to

participate in these activities, even though some of

them claimed to be interested in the activities held.

Consequently, they missed various activities, even

though these activities positively impacted

individuals after the disaster.

When changes occur so quickly with heavy

pressure, a person needs to develop his abilities to get

through the pressure. The ability or capacity of an

individual to adapt to changes and pressures that

occur is called resilience (Reivich & Shatte, 2003).

Several factors affect a person's resilience. These

factors include the relationship of mutual trust,

emotional connection, self-esteem, and

encouragement to be independent, and unconditional

love (Grotberg, 1995). Those factors are classified

into three sources of resilience, including the aspects

of; I have, I am, and I can.

"I have" is a source of resilience that comes from

the environment around the individual, such as family,

neighborhood, or other environments. This source

affects individuals in feeling that they have support

from those around them. Before realizing who he is (I

Am) and what he can do (I Can), he needs external

support first. This external support serves to develop a

sense of security which is the basis of the development

of resilience. The individual needs to feel safe and

secure before he can begin to know himself and his

abilities.

The next aspect is “I am”. This aspect focuses on

the individual's abilities and strengths that include

feelings, behaviors, and beliefs that a person has. How

the individual sees himself is at the heart of this aspect.

“I can” is the third source of resilience. This

aspect includes the social and interpersonal skills of

the individual. This ability can be learned through

interaction with other people and the teaching given

to them.

Individuals need to have at least two of the three

sources above to be resilient. The more factors from

the source of resilience that are met, the likelihood of

individuals becoming more resilient is also greater

(Grotberg, 1995).

Based on the above explanations, the researcher

conducted a study focused on describing the source

of the resilience of adolescents who were victims of

the earthquake in Dangiang Village, North Lombok.

This study was conducted six months after the

earthquake occurred in Lombok City. Recently,

identifying the source of resilience is important

because the researchers can see the possibility of

individual resilience in the future. After the

earthquake occurs, there may be a change in the

source of resilience that has been possessed by

adolescents. By knowing the sources of resilience

adolescents possess at this time, parents, caregivers,

schools, or other parties around adolescents can

recognize what supports adolescents need to become

resilient.

2 METHODS

This study was non-experimental research with a

qualitative approach. The population of this study

were adolescents in Dangiang Village, North

Lombok, who were victims of the multiple

earthquakes that happened in July and August 2018.

The sampling procedure of this study used a

purposive sampling technique with a homogeneous

sampling type, meaning that the researcher is looking

for a group of individuals with the same

characteristics and is in line with the research

conducted. The characteristics of the participants in

this study were early adolescents aged 12-15 years,

living, and doing activities and being in the village of

Dangiang when the earthquake occurred on August 5,

2018, who lost their house due to the earthquake that

occurred, and who had no family or relatives who

died because of the earthquake.

In this study, the researchers used a semi-

structured interview and developed the interview

guidelines instrument from Grotberg's (1995)

resilience source theory. Interviews were conducted

in-depth (in-depth interviews) for each research

participant. The data analysis method in this study

used content analysis techniques, started with

AICOSH 2021 - The Annual International Conference on Social Sciences and Humanities (AICOSH) “Life After Pandemic: Perspectives,

Changes, and Challenges”

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developing coding for data findings, building data

descriptions & themes, representing and reporting

qualitative findings, interpreting findings. In order to

ensure credibility, the researchers used triangulation

techniques through interviews with the significant

others of the participants.

3 RESULTS

The three participants had different descriptions of

the 'I have' factor, especially the trusting relationship

factor. Although there are similarities in terms of

family structure, the dynamics created in it are

different. For example, participants with intact

families do not necessarily have better dynamics than

participants with incomplete families due to divorce.

Families in the same house also do not necessarily

have better dynamics than families in different places.

How the family communicates and supports the

participants is the key to forming family dynamics

that affect this trusting relationship factor.

The rules at home and support for being

independent in the three participants also differed in

their respective home conditions. The absence of

clear rules made participants feel confused about

what their parents expected. It can then turn into

negative feelings because they are constantly

reprimanded by their families, even though

adolescents are not equipped with clear rules from the

beginning. The participants seemed to have to feel the

consequences without knowing the apparent causes.

Having clear rules at home helps the participants to

understand their roles and responsibilities. It also

relates to support for self-reliance. The support for

being independent can be felt by the participants

when parents trust the participants to do things on

their own. This trust also builds participants' self-

confidence which will affect the participants'

resilience.

The 'role model' factor was also different for each

participant. Only one participant answered

confidently when the researchers asked about the role

model. The other two participants indirectly also had

role models who became examples for them even

though the answers given were not as convincing as

the first participant. Some participants just found a

role model after the earthquake occurred. This is also

related to the religious factors, which would be

discussed further on the source of resilience 'I am. The

three participants' access to education, security, and

health services were different even though they live in

the same village. This difference is also influenced by

the position or status of the family in the village.

Families with a higher status/caste feel they have

better access to health and safety facilities because

they have reliable connections outside of Dangiang

Village. The three families agreed that health and

education services in Dangiang Village, where they

lived, should have been better. However, each family

had its way of meeting their children's health,

education, and safety needs, so they did not have to

depend entirely on the services provided by Dangiang

Village. One participant also mentioned that the help

they received after the earthquake helped them feel

safe. Even when their village authority cannot help,

other parties will help them get the facilities they need.

The source of resilience, 'I am' in each adolescent,

was different. The three participants had love,

empathy, and altruistic traits that were shown in

different ways. The three participants had their

respective achievements. Some of these

achievements were only obtained after the

earthquake, and some were already achieved before

the earthquake occurred. Two participants received a

higher class ranking after the earthquake occurred,

while the other participant experienced a decrease in

rank after the earthquake. However, these three

participants still felt that their rank in the class was an

achievement they could be proud of. The three

participants were also provided with duties and

responsibilities by those around them, both at school

and home. This makes them feel proud of themselves

because they can independently carry out the tasks

and responsibilities entrusted to them.

Each of the participants upheld religious values

and was involved in religious activities. Lombok

Island is known as the island of 1000 mosques.

Dangiang village, part of Lombok Island, also has

many mosques or prayer rooms for worship. Every

day there is a recitation class for each child. The three

participants have been participating in religious

activities for a long time. However, after the

earthquake, people around the participants noticed a

change in the three participants. The three of them

were seen to be more diligent in carrying out religious

activities after the earthquake occurred. Two of them

experienced a significant increase in reciting religious

surah or singing religious songs. The last source of

resilience is 'I can'. Regarding the communication

factor, the three participants were able to express their

opinions clearly. Although one of the participants

cannot really express it to her parents, she is able to

speak her mind in school. She did not express it to her

parents not because she could not but because they

were too busy with work and rarely talked to each

other. The three participants can control the feelings

and impulses they feel. All three were also able to

Sources of Resilience in Early Adolescent Survivors of the Lombok 2018 Earthquake: Qualitative Study in Dangiang Village, North Lombok

103

process their respective feelings to have no negative

impact on themselves and others. All three

participants also could solve problems on their own

or with the help of others. They knew when they had

to ask others for help when they were no longer able

to solve their problems.

The factors possessed by the three participants

regarding the source of resilience ‘I can’ are almost

the same, except in the way the participants search for

a reliable relationship. One of the participants tried to

get closer to the Dangiang Village volunteers by

participating in all mentoring activities or simply

inviting volunteers to play together. The second

participant was closer to their school teachers so that

they were also known as active children in school.

Finally, the third participant sought a trusted

relationship by getting closer to the researchers.

4 CONCLUSIONS

The three participants had different sources of

resilience. Even when the participants shared the

same source, the factors could vary. This study also

showed that each source, ‘I have’, ‘I am’, and ‘I can’

could not stand alone. Each of the factors in it was

related to each other. This could be seen, for example,

from several factors in ‘I have’ that affected the ‘I am’

and ‘I can’ conditions of adolescents.

In the aspect of ‘I have’, the three participants

established trustworthy relationships with different

parties. The role models of the participants were

found before or after the earthquake. Even though

they lived in the same village, participants had

different access to health, education, and security

services.

In the ‘I am’ aspect, the three participants were

dominant in the aspect of having hope, faith, and

trust. The three participants experienced an increase

in terms of religious activities after the earthquake.

All three also experienced changes in achievement at

school, although one of them experienced a decline in

achievement. This achievement could also be one of

the achievements that made the participants proud of

themselves.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The three participants had different sources of

resilience. Even when the participants shared the

same source, the factors could vary. This study also

showed that each source, ‘I have’, ‘I am’, and ‘I can’

could not stand alone. Each of the factors in it was

related to each other. This could be seen, for example,

from several factors in ‘I have’ that affected the ‘I am’

and ‘I can’ conditions of adolescents.

In the aspect of ‘I have’, the three participants

established trustworthy relationships with different

parties. The role models of the participants were

found before or after the earthquake. Even though

they lived in the same village, participants had

different access to health, education, and security

services.

In the ‘I am’ aspect, the three participants were

dominant in the aspect of having hope, faith, and

trust. The three participants experienced an increase

in terms of religious activities after the earthquake.

All three also experienced changes in achievement at

school, although one of them experienced a decline in

achievement. This achievement could also be one of

the achievements that made the participants proud of

themselves.

The three participants had almost the exact

description of the ‘I can’ factor. However, it could be

seen that each participant had a different way of

looking for a trustworthy relationship. Thus, from the

three participants, it could be concluded that each

adolescent had more than one source of resilience

with many factors in it.

The three participants had almost the same

description of the ‘I can’ factor. However, it could be

seen that each participant had a different way of

looking for a trustworthy relationship. Hence, from

the three participants, it could be concluded that each

adolescent had more than one source of resilience

with many factors in it.

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