Adaptation in Context: A Qualitative Investigation of Self-Insight and Resilience Capacity Development in Emerging Adulthood

Emerging adulthood (18–25 years) is a period of identity exploration, autonomy, and transitions in relationships and responsibilities. While a time of vulnerability, it also offers opportunities for developing capacities for resilience, though little is known about how this process unfolds. For the first time, we provide an in-depth exploration of how coping-related self-insights gained from developmentally normative, but non-traumatic, stressors serve as a mechanism for refining resilient capacities. We examined the overarching narrative patterns within participants’ descriptions of stressor experiences, the types of coping-related insights that emerged through reflection, and how these insights were understood to influence resilience capacities. Participants (N = 34) completed two structured interviews about two personal stressors, spaced two months apart. Four narrative patterns were interpreted, representing distinct ways participants described coping and adaptation (good or bad) over time, with most demonstrating some form of coping-related insight and shifts in their capacities for resilience. The analysis revealed diverse forms of coping-related self-insight, including awareness of emotional, cognitive, and behavioural patterns; recalibration of expectations and values; and coping-related insights shaped by sociocultural context. These insights were interpreted as contributing to adaptive change across three resilience capacities: coping strategy application, resource use, and resilient beliefs. Findings demonstrated that developmentally normative stressors may be a catalyst for adaptation and refinement of resilient capacities in emerging adulthood. This study advances understanding of resilience development as a dynamic, contextually embedded process shaped by lived interaction with stressors and reflective self-awareness.