Abstract
Research on the Social Cure has demonstrated the undeniable importance of belonging to social groups and the impact that this has on one’s functioning, quality of life, health and well-being. Here, we extend this research into the realm of psychological resilience. Psychological resilience is defined as positive growth or adaptation following an adverse event. For youth, psychological resilience is extremely important and there is growing interest in the development of interventions that foster/develop resilience. The current study used sail training as a method to promote psychological resilience in New Zealand European and Māori youth. Specifically, 54 Māori and 37 New Zealand European adolescents completed the 7-day youth-development voyage on-board the gaffed rigged schooner, R. Tucker Thompson. The R. Tucker Thompson encourages a social and supportive atmosphere that provides participants with skills to overcome adversity and challenges. For both New Zealand European and Māori, there was a significant increase in resilience from the first day of the voyage to the final day. Furthermore, it was found that the social identity participants established through the development of the new group contributed to the increases in resilience observed over the course of the voyage.