Loss being an inevitable part of human experience, affect individuals across all stages of life and result in bereavement. Bereavement has a significant emotional, psychological, and social impact, challenging an individual's ability to cope and adapt. There is strong evidence to show that social support plays an instrumental role in dealing with loss. Although individuals require time to process their emotions, research demonstrate resilience as a remarkable ability to reconstruct their lives. Resilience often arises from these challenging experiences, enabling individuals to grow and identify new strengths. The present study was an attempt to understand the interplay of resilience and social support in dealing with loss among emerging adults who have experienced loss.
A total of 20 emerging adults with experience of a personal loss (loss of loved one/ parents/ siblings/ close friend) participated in this study. Semi-structured interview were conducted with them to explore their experiences after loss, their coping mechanism to deal with the bereavement and the importance of social support in the development of resilience among them to deal with such personal losses. Content analysis of the interviews highlights the essential connections between resilience and social support and demonstrated that social support plays a crucial role in helping individuals overcome challenges and acts as a buffer to stressors. Results highlight that strong familial connections and peer networks significantly enhance bereavement adjustment by promoting resilience.
These findings are important as they highlight how the type of loss can significantly impact resilience levels of individuals after loss. It also demonstrates that social factors, cultural variability and personal characteristics impacts the interplay between social support and resilience to deal with personal loss. Future research can investigate the underlying mechanisms of social support and how integrating loss into one's life narrative can empower resilience by helping people grow around their grief.