‘Throw a Stone, You Hit One of Your Own’: A Qualitative Exploration of Community Cohesion in an Inner-City Belfast Community

This paper draws on findings from the first wave of a 3-year qualitative longitudinal study focused on the lived experience of residents of the Market community in inner-city Belfast who are facing challenges connected with disadvantage, inequality and the legacy of conflict. Interviews were conducted with an overall sample of 61 children, young people and parents/guardians (n = 61). This cross-sectional analysis focuses on data from the adult cohort (n = 22). We used an integrated analytical approach complemented by a bioecological lens. Understanding related to the maintenance of resilience in difficult circumstances was explored through the themes, challenges to collective well-being, coping with collective adversity and negotiating boundaries, which revealed that community resilience was related to social capital and cohesion. The implications of these findings are relevant to those wishing to address chronic adversity in communities and indicate the importance of supporting the existing strengths of cohesion to foster the collective resilience of the community.