Enacting Youth Agency in Higher Education: Resilience as a Mediating Factor

This study investigated the role an undergraduate course in a Turkish state university plays in the development of youth agency and how, during its implication, the students’ level of resilience has performed a mediating role. Ethical approval was obtained from the University’s Institutional Review Board before the study was initiated. The research was conducted employing a concurrent mixed research design, consisting of implementation of a questionnaire, in which 421 students participated, and conducting interviews with 20 students and 13 instructors simultaneously. Based on the results of the questionnaire, undergraduate students exhibit moderate levels of psychological resilience during hard times. As for the interview results, three themes emerged as a result of the thematic analysis of students’ and instructors’ responses: Adapting to adversity, developing social agency, and academic engagement as resilience practice. The findings revealed that courses, particularly those on social issues, have the potential to increase the sense of agency when active participation of students is achieved and students’ resilience may act as a mediating factor in the development of youth agency through implementation of such courses.