Alternative domains of injustice: Exploring hope(lessness) and psychosocial resilience among residents of an excluded urban community

Keywords: environmental injustice and underdevelopment; health disparities; psychosocial indicators; hope; Trinidad and Tobago; Caribbean
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Tuesday
Session Start / End Time: 3/1/2022 08:00 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 3/1/2022 09:20 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 2

Abstract

Although often overlooked, psychosocial factors may play a significant role as indicators of
injustice and underdevelopment in marginalized social environments, potentially affecting the
resilience of the individuals who inhabit them. This study aims to examine the relationship
between exclusion and various markers of psychosocial resilience among residents of the
marginalized urban community of Beetham Gardens, Trinidad and Tobago, extending
understandings of how psychological capital and a sense of hope can be incorporated into
existing sustainable development and resilience frameworks. Based on an analysis of 203
households, a mixed methods approach involving surveys, interviews and focus groups was used
to gauge residents’ experiences of exclusion and their psychosocial dispositions such as
hope(lessness), social capital, civic attitudes and empowerment potential. The link between
exclusion and psychosocial dispositions was statistically determined using descriptive and
multivariate analysis and spatially represented using geostatistical techniques. Results indicated
that residents' experiences of exclusion entailed various environmental injustices whose
expressions were conditioned by socio-economic, political, race and gender characteristics. Most
notably, reduced living standards, material deprivation, lack of trust in local governance
structures and lack of access to social support networks were among the prominent facets of
exclusion that predicted lowered psychosocial resilience. In general, greater exclusion was
associated with reduced levels of hope and other dispositional measures, which in turn predicted
lower levels of civic participation and willingness to engage in collective action. Psychosocial
markers such as hope may therefore serve as a vital component for monitoring development
trajectories among vulnerable populations in marginalized social environments.