Threatened Aspirations, Undaunted Resilience

Abstract

The study conceptualized young women’s and men’s aspirations as their quest for improved living conditions or status in society; a process of young people wishing and envisioning what they would like to be in the future. It is defined as the driving force behind a young person’s life path and well-being. Young women’s and men’s resilience was conceptualized as their ability to deploy resources to navigate through various obstacles to achieve their aspirations, while adaptability is defined as young women’s and men’s capacity in the post-COVID era to influence and manage their resilience in their bid to avoid undesirable outcomes. It was projected that the extent to which young people can manage and influence their resilience determines the nature of the outcome they get in their aspirations for good livelihoods in the post-COVID era.