Violence, spirituality and resilience in students of Education Unit Archdiocesan “Bicentenario del Natalicio de El Libertador”

Abstract

This qualitative study, aimed at identifying how spirituality is a factor of resilience to the culture of violence that young people attending the Unidad Educativa Arquidiocesana “Bicentenario del Natalicio de El Libertador” of Maracaibo live. It was conducted during the period 2012-2013. The data collection was performed by indepth interviews with 10 teenage students in this educational unit, of which 6 were women and 4 men, whose ages ranged between 13 and 17 years, were enrolled, and were in their 5th, 6th and 8th years of school. The analysis was performed using Grounded Theory. The main authors to guide the study were Frankl (1990), Llobet (2005), González and Ginart (2011) Fromm (1978) and Walsh (2004). As a result, it was determined that for the students of this educational unit, spirituality has been a factor of resilience by helping them tackle the culture of violence. These young people have had process of internalization and inner growth through spiritual experience, as a quest of mental health, motivation, behavior, consciousness, to identify and project humans into new and better horizons. This spirituality is not connected to a church in particular, but to past experiences, with an ambience in a way of living, of being, and overcoming problems. Resilience enabling them to develop important factors that has led to the overall growth and strengthening a culture of peace.