Resilience as a Potential Factor in Explaining the Attitudes of Adults Who Were Socially Rejected during their School Years towards Minority Groups and Foreigners

The purpose of this qualitative study is to examine whether the resilience resources of children who were socially rejected during school years could explain their adult attitudes toward minority groups and foreigners. Twenty-four participants who had been peer rejected in their school years were interviewed. The purpose of the interviews was to identify whether the resilience of children and adolescents who experienced social rejection during their school years could explain differences in their adult attitudes toward minority groups and foreigners. According to the constant comparative method the data was analyzed in four stages. The findings of the study suggest that resilience resources may explain attitudes toward excluded outsider groups. In addition to resilience resources, the study suggests that the attitudes of adults rejected during childhood and adolescence toward outsider groups can be explained by their behavior patterns toward peers who also experienced rejection.