Superheroes as Resources to Promote Resilience in Children and Adolescents

ABSTRACT Studies indicate that children and adolescents at psychosocial risk can be more vulnerable for behavioral problems and their negative consequences during adult years. This study examined associations between the fictional adversities of popular comic superheroes, in their pre-super-powered stage and the studied real-life adversities of disadvantaged children. I examined a sample of 20 most influential comic superheroes was assembled and an detailed indexing was conducted. It was found that all the most relevant superheroes, in terms of pop culture visibility had a high commonality of shared adversities (e.g., abandonment by family, domestic violence and bullying) with several subgroups of disadvantaged children. This untapped resource has potential for developing psychoeducational interventions, as well as informing public policies that promote resilience among this at-risk population.

摘要：已有研究表明，处于心理社会风险（psychosocial risk）中的儿童与青少年，在成年阶段更易出现行为问题及其衍生的负面影响。本研究探讨了热门漫画超级英雄在获得超能力前阶段的虚构逆境，与研究对象——弱势儿童所经历的真实逆境之间的关联。本研究整合了20位最具影响力的漫画超级英雄样本，并开展了详细的索引编目工作。研究发现，就流行文化影响力而言，所有核心超级英雄均与多类弱势儿童群体存在高度重合的共同逆境（例如被家庭遗弃、家庭暴力与欺凌）。这一尚未被开发的资源，有望用于开发心理教育干预方案，同时可为制定旨在提升该风险群体心理韧性的公共政策提供参考。