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Resilience in psychology is the positive capacity of people to cope with stress and catastrophe. It is also used to indicate a characteristic of resistance to future negative events. In this sense "resilience" corresponds to cumulative "protective factors" and is used in opposition to cumulative "risk factors". The phrase "risk and resilience"' in this area of study is quite common. Commonly used terms, which are essentially synonymous within psychology, are "resilience", "psychological resilience", "emotional resilience", "hardiness", and "resourcefulness".

Contents 1 Definition of resilience 2 History of research on resilience 3 Expressions of resilience 4 Factors related to resilience 5 Resilience and social programs 6 Children and Resilience 6.1 Building resilience in the classroom 6.2 The role a Community has in fostering Resilience in a Child 6.3 The role a family has in fostering Resilience in a Child 7 Resilience and Emotion 8 Resilient groups 8.1 The children of poor Vietnamese parents in the U.S.A. and Germany 8.2 Children of American farmers 8.3 Children in times of the Great Depression 8.4 Children of poor German college students 8.5 Spaniards in Germany 9 Notes 10 References 11 See also 12 External links

[edit] Definition of resilience

Resilience is defined as a dynamic process that individuals exhibit positive behavioral adaptation when they encounter significant adversity or trauma.^[1] Resilience is a two-dimensional construct concerning the exposure of adversity and the positive adjustment outcomes of that adversity.^[2] Adversity refers to any risks associated with negative life conditions that are statistically related to adjustment difficulties, such as poverty, children of schizophrenic mothers, or experiences of the 9/11 attacks. Positive adaptation, on the other hand, is considered in a demonstration of manifested behaviour on social competence or success at meeting any particular tasks at a specific life stage, such as the absence of psychiatric distress after the September 11th terrorism attacks on the United States.^[3]

[edit] History of research on resilience

Emmy Werner was one of the first scientists to use the term resilience in 1970s. She studied a cohort of children from Kauai, Hawaiia. Kauai was quite poor and many of the children in the study grew up with alcoholic or mentally ill parents. Many of the parents were also out of work.^[4] Werner noted that of the children who grew up in these very bad situations, two-thirds exhibited destructive behaviors in their later teen years, such as chronic unemployment, substance abuse, and out-of-wedlock births (in case of teenage girls). However one-third of these youngsters did not exhibit destructive behaviours. Werner called the latter group resilient.^[5] Resilient children and their families had traits that made them different from non-resilient children and families.

Resilience emerged as a major theoretical and research topic from the studies of children of schizophrenic mothers in the 1980s.^[6] In Masten’s (1989) study,^[7] the results showed that children with a schizophrenic parent may not obtain comforting caregiving compared to children with healthy parents, and such situation had an impact on children’s development. However, some children of ill parents thrived well and were competent in academic achievement, and therefore led researchers make efforts to understand such responses to adversity.

In the onset of the research on resilience, researchers have been devoted to discovering the protective factors that explain people’s adaptation to adverse conditions, such as maltreatment,^[8] catastrophic life events,^[9] or urban poverty.^[10] The focus of empirical work then has been shifted to understand the underlying protective processes. Researchers endeavor to uncover how some factors (e.g., family) may contribute to positive outcomes.^[11]

[edit] Expressions of resilience

Resilience can be described by viewing:

1. good outcomes regardless of high-risk status,
2. constant competence under stress, and
3. recovery from trauma.^[12]

Resilient people are expected to adapt successfully even though they experience risk factors that are against good development. Risk factors are related to poor or negative outcomes. For example, poverty, low socioeconomic status, and mothers with schizophrenia are coupled with lower academic achievement and more emotional or behavioral problems. Risk factors may be cumulative, carrying additive and exponential risks when they co-occur.^[13]. When these risk factors happen, according to a study conducted on children,^[14] resilient children are capable of resulting in no behavioural problems and developing well. Additionally, they are more active and socially responsive. These positive outcomes are attributed to some protective factors, such as good parenting or positive school experiences.

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Resilience is also treated as an effective coping mechanism when people are under stress, such as divorce. In this context, resilience is relevant with sustained competence exhibited by individuals who experience challenging conditions. Most research built on this perspective focuses on the children’s response to parents’ divorce in terms of gender. Boys show more conduct problems than do girls; girls obtain more support from mothers and are less exposed to family conflict than boys. Although divorce may have some negative impacts on children’s development, it may help children in single households to become more responsible than those in dual-parents households because of helping with chores. Some protective factors attributing to resilient children in single-family, for example, are adults caring for children during or after major stressors (e.g., divorce), or self-efficacy for motivating endeavor at adaptation.

Finally, resilience can be viewed as the phenomenon of recovery from a prolonged or severe adversity, or from an immediate danger or stress.^[15][16] In this case, resilience is not related to vulnerability. People who experience acute trauma, for example, may show extreme anxiety, sleep problems, and intrusive thoughts. Over time, these symptoms decrease and recovery is likely. This realm of research shows that age and the supportive qualities of the family influence the condition of recovery. The Buffalo Creek dam disaster, for example, had longer effects on older children than on younger.^[17] Additionally, children with supportive families show fewer symptoms (e.g., dreams of personal death) that Chowchilla bus kidnapping resulted in than troubled families.^[18]

[edit] Factors related to resilience

Two factors are found to modify the negative effects of adverse life situations.

The first factor is vulnerability which includes any indices aggregating the negative effects of difficult circumstances. For example, children with low intelligence are more vulnerable than those with high intelligence when both groups experience severe adversities.^[19]

Another protective factor is related to moderating the negative effects of environmental hazards or a stressful situation in order to direct vulnerable individuals to optimistic paths, such as external social support. More specifically, Werner (1995)^[20] distinguished three contexts for protective factors: (1) personal attributes, including outgoing, bright, and positive self-concepts; (2) the family, such as having close bonds with at least one family member or an emotionally stable parent; and (3) the community, like receiving support or counsel from peers.

Besides the above distinction on resilience, research has also been devoted to discovering the individual differences in resilience. Self-esteem, ego-control, and ego-resiliency are related to behavioral adaptation.^[21] For example, maltreated children who feel good about themselves may process risk situations differently by attributing different reasons to the environments they experience and, thereby, avoid producing negative internalized self-perceptions. Ego-control is "the threshold or operating characteristics of an individual with regard to the expression or containment" (Block & Block, 1980, p. 43) of their impulses, feelings, and desires. Ego-resilience refers to “dynamic capacity,……to modify his or her model level of ego-control, in either direction, as a function of the demand characteristics of the environmental context" (Block & Block, 1980, p. 48).^[22]

Maltreated children, who experienced some risk factors (e.g., single parenting, limited maternal education, or family unemployment), showed lower ego-resilience and intelligence than nonmaltreated children (Cicchetti et al., 1993). Furthermore, maltreated children are more likely than nonmaltreated children to demonstrate disruptive-aggressive, withdraw, and internalized behavior problems (Cicchetti et al., 1993). Finally, ego-resiliency, and positive self-esteem were predictors of competent adaptation in the maltreated children (Cicchetti et al., 1993).

Demographic information (e.g., gender) and resources (e.g., social support) are also used to predict resilience. Examining people's adaptation after the 9/11 attacks (Bonanno, Galea Bucciarelli, & Vlahov, 2007)^[23] showed women were associated with less likelihood of resilience than men. Also, individuals who were less involved in affinity groups and organisations showed less resilience. King, King, Fairbank, Keane, and Adams (1998) studied resilience in Vietnam War veterans and found social support to be a major factor contributing to resilience.^[24]

Schnurr, Lunney, and Sengupta (2004) found that several protective factors among those were the following factors protecting against the development of PTSD:

• Japanese-American ethnicity, high school degree or college education, older age at entry to war, higher socioeconomic status, and a more positive paternal relationship as premilitary factors
• Social support at homecoming and current social support as postmilitary factors^[25]

and the following factors protecting among the maintenance of PTSD

• Native Hawaiian or Japanese-American ethnicity and college education as premilitary factors
• Current social support as postmilitary factor^[26]

A number of other factors that promote resilience have been identified:

• The ability to cope with stress effectively and in a healthy manner
• Having good problem-solving skills
• Seeking help
• Holding the belief that there is something one can do to manage your feelings and cope
• Having social support
• Being connected with others, such as family or friends
• Self-disclosure of the trauma to loved ones
• Spirituality
• Having an identity as a survivor as opposed to a victim
• Helping others
• Finding positive meaning in the trauma^[27]

[edit] Resilience and social programs

Head Start was shown to promote resilience ^[28]. So was the Big Brothers Big Sisters Programme, the Abecedarian Early Intervention Project^[29], ^[30], and social programs for youth with emotional or behavioral difficulties ^[31]

See also: Compensatory Education

[edit] Children and Resilience

Resilience is different for every child because every child is developing at a different pace. That means that we cannot expect children to use the same model and techniques to form resilience but we help children learn resilience similar to the way we teach a child how to play soccer or how to play a musical instrument. ^[32] In order to help foster resilience in a child to overcome stressful circumstances you must give that individual a sense of ownership ^[33] and help them self-evaluate both the situation and what they are in control of and what they are not in control of.

A self-help, consciousness-raising quiz on which a child or teen can estimate his or her own resilience is available. A youth who fills out the quiz is invited to discuss coping strengths or problems with a parent or other adult. ^[34]

[edit] Building resilience in the classroom

Resilient children as described by Garmezy ^[35] as working and playing well and holding high expectations, have often been characterized using constructs such as locus control, self-esteem, self-efficacy, and autonomy. Bernard ^[36] concluded that resilient children have high expectations, a meaning for life, goals, personal agency, and inter-personal problem-solving skills. All of these things work together to prevent the debilitating behaviors that are associated with learned helplessness. Chess ^[37] identified “adaptive distancing” as the psychological process whereby an individual can stand apart from distressed family members and friends in order to accomplish constructive goals and advance his or her psychological development. Moving away to college after high school is a way of practicing adaptive distancing. ^[38] Classrooms in which students are given an opportunity to respond, an engaging cooperative learning environment, a participating role in setting goals, and a high expectation for student achievement. All of these characteristics help students develop a sense of belonging and involvement. These two characteristics help to reduce the feelings of alienation and disengagement. With that kind of connection in the school, students will have more of a protective shield against the adverse circumstances that life throws at them.

[edit] The role a Community has in fostering Resilience in a Child

Communities play a huge role in fostering resilience. Bernard ^[39] identifies three characteristics of those types of communities (1) availability of social organizations that provide an array of resources to residents, (2) consistent expression of social norms so that community members understand what constitutes desirable behavior, (3) and opportunities for children and youth to participate in the life of the community as valued members. The clearest sign of a cohesive and supportive community is the presence of social organizations that provide healthy human development. ^[40] Services are unlikely to be used unless there is good communication concerning them. Community-school relationships are very important to give extra resources to meet even basic psychological needs of students and families.

[edit] The role a family has in fostering Resilience in a Child

Fostering resilience in children requires family environments that are caring and structured, hold high expectations for children’s behavior, and encourage participation in the life of the family.^[41] Most resilient children have a strong relationship with at least one adult, not always a parent, and this relationship helps to diminish risk associated with family discord. Bernard ^[42] found that even though divorce produces stress, the availability of social support from family and community can reduce stress and yield positive outcomes. Any family that emphasizes the value of assigned chores, caring for brothers or sisters, and the contribution of part-time work in supporting the family helps to foster resilience. ^[43]

[edit]
Resilience and Emotion

Some studies confirmed the association between positive emotion and resilience (e.g., Ong, Bergeman, Bisconti, & Wallace, 2006^[44]; Tugade et al., 2004) ^[45]. Examining the role positive emotion plays in resilience, Ong et al. (2006) found that widows with high levels of resilience experience more positive (e.g., peaceful) and negative (e.g., anxious) emotions than those with low levels. The former group shows high emotional complexity which is the capacity to maintain the differentiation of positive and negative emotional states while underlying stress. Ong et al. (2006) further suggest that the adaptive consequence of resilience is a function of an increase in emotional complexity while stress is present. Moreover, high resilient widows showed the likelihood of controlling their positive emotional experiences to recover and bounce back from daily stress. Indeed, positive emotions were found to disrupt the experience of stress and help high resilient individuals to recover efficiently from daily stress (Fredrickson et al., 2003) ^[46]. In this case, some studies argue (e.g., Fredrickson et al., 2003; Tugade et al., 2004) that positive emotion helps resilient people to construct psychological resources that are necessary for coping successfully with significant catastrophe, such as the September 11th attacks. As a result, positive emotion experienced by resilient people functions as a protective factor to moderate the magnitude of adversity to individuals and assists them to cope well in the future (Tugade et al., 2004). In addition to the above findings, a study (Fredrickson et al., 2003) further suggests that positive emotions are active elements within resilience. By examining people’s emotional responses to the September 11th, Fredrickson et al. (2003) suggests that positive emotions are critical elements in resilience and as a mediator that buffer people from depression after the crises. Moreover, high resilient people were more likely to notice positive meanings within the problems they faced (e.g., felt grateful to be alive), endured fewer depressive symptoms, and experienced more positive emotions than low resilient people after terrorism attacks (Fredrickson et al., 2003). Similar results were obtained in another study regarding the effects of 911 attacks on resilient individuals’ healthy adjustment (Bonanno et al., 2007) ^[47]. People with high levels of resilience are likely to show low levels of depression, and less likely to smoke cigarettes or use marijuana (Bonanno et al., 2007). Moreover, low resilient people exhibit the difficulties of regulating negative emotions and demonstrate sensitive reaction to daily stressful life events (e.g., the loss of loved one) (Ong et al., 2006). They are likely to believe that there is no end for the unpleasant experience of daily stressors and may have higher levels of stress. In general, resilient people are believed to possess positive emotions, and such emotions in turn influence their responses to adversity.

[edit] Resilient groups

A number of social and ethnic groups have been shown to be resilient. Among those are the children of European Jews in the United States, the children of the Vietnamese boat people in the United States. Middle class families in times of the great depression, children of farmers in times of economical crisis, children of Spanish and Vietnamese immigrants in Germany, adoptive children, who went through trauma and malnutrition. And the African American children of African slaves brought to America by slave traders.

[edit] The children of poor Vietnamese parents in the U.S.A. and Germany

Nathan Caplan studied the children of poor Vietnamese parents in the US. Most of these parents were refugees. In many cases they did not own anything but the clothes they were wearing when they arrived. Most did not speak English. Half of the parents had less than five years of formal schooling. The refugees studied by Caplan lived in the worst neighborhoods of big cities. Yet their children turned out to be academically more successful than American middle class children.

Why?

Nathan et al. found out the Vietnamese stress the value of education. Parents wanted their children to enjoy a better education than they did themselves. The Vietnamese children spend an average of 3 hours and 10 minutes per day doing their homework and reading for school, while American middle class students just spend an average of 1 hour and 30 minutes per day with these activities.

Nathan Caplan also found out the older siblings were supposed to help their younger siblings. That way the younger ones did not only learn facts but also attitudes towards school and learning from their older siblings. The more siblings a child of Vietnamese parentage has, the more likely is he or she to achieve in school. ^[48]

Germany is a multi-ethnic society. 8% of the population and 25% of the 15 year olds are born abroad themselves or have as least one parent born abroad. In Germany Vietnamese families started arriving as foreign workers during the 1980s and they are still coming in great numbers to search for a better life. As a rule children of immigrants are not as successful academically as children of native Germans. However it is not true for children of Asian parentage. The Vietnamese are the biggest Asian group in Germany and also one of the poorest ethnic groups. They have been studied a lot, and it has been found (as mentioned before) that Vietnamese parents value education and that Vietnamese students spend a lot more time learning than their German counterparts. ^{[49],[50],[51]}

[edit] Children of American farmers

Elder and Conger examined data from several Iowa counties to see how the farm crisis of the 1980s and 1990s affected children growing up in rural parts of the state. They found that a that a large number of those young people were on paths to successful development and life achievement. Most children of those children grew up to be academically successful and law-abiding.

Elder was able to identify five resource mechanisms:

1. strong intergenerational bounds, joint activity between parents and children
2. being socialized into productive roles in work and social leadership; stressing non-material goals
3. a network of positive engagement in church, school, and community life
4. close ties with grandparents, support from grandparents
5. strong family connections with the community

^[52]

See also: The Iowa Youth and Families Project

[edit] Children in times of the Great Depression

Elder studied the life of men who were children during the Great Depression of 1929-1939 and came to maturity at the outset of World War II. When these children came of age Elder found them to be healthy, law abiding, well adapted and bright.

One stunning finding was that poverty had slight positive effects on children from the middle classes. Once they reached adulthood those men earned a college degree as often as men from nondeprived middle class homes. In later life they did a little better in terms of economic success than their nondeprived middle class peers..^[53]

Men of working class background did not do as well as men from middle class homes. However many of them were upwardly mobile and on most measures they did do just as well as men from never-deprived working class backgrounds.

[edit] Children of poor German college students

Cohen studied the life trajectories of children of poor German college students. Most of their mothers were single mothers; however those children did not spend their whole childhood in poverty. When their mothers graduated from college they were an average of 4.5 years old. By the time those children were teenagers most of their mothers earned more than the German average income.

Cohen found the children to be successful in school. They did do as well as children from never deprived middle class families. Once they reached adulthood they were as likely to attend college as children from never deprived middle class families.

However, Cohen found those men and women to be emotionally more disturbed than children from never deprived middle class families. Women were more likely to give birth out of wedlock than women from nondeprived middle class families. Both sexes were more likely to have a divorce than people from non deprived middle class families^[54]

[edit] Spaniards in Germany

In the 1970s, Spain was a dictatorship under the rule of Francisco Franco. Many Spaniards fled to Germany in search of a better life. Most of those immigrants were poor and only few were able to speak proper German. Today their children do as well as German children when it comes to educational success and Spaniard grown-ups do as well as German grown-ups when it comes to occupational success.^[55]. ^[56].

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Benard, Bonnie (2004) Resiliency: What We Have Learned San Francisco, WestEd. '
• Block, J. H., & Block, J. (1980). The role of ego-control and ego-resiliency in the organization of behavior. In W. A. Collins (Ed.), Development of cognition, affect, and social relations: Minnesota Symposia on Child Psychology (Vol. 13, pp. 39-101). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum
• Bonanno, G. A., Galea, S., Bucciareli, A., & Vlahov, D. (2007). What predicts psychological resilience after disaster? The role of demographics, resources, and life stress.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 75(5), 671-682.
• Carver, C. S., & Scheier, M. F. (1999). Stress, coping, and self-regulatory processes. In O. P. John & L. A. Pervin (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (pp. 553-575). New York: Guilford Press.
• Cicchetti, D., Rogosch, F. A., Lynch, M., & Holt, K. D. (1993). Resilience in maltreated children: Processes leading to adaptive outcome. Development and Psychopathology, 5, 629-647.
• Cicchetti, D., & Rogosch, F. A. (1997). The role of self-organization in the promotion of resilience in maltreated children. Development and Psychopathology, 9(4), 799-817.
• Davidson, R. J. (2000). Affective style, psychopathology, and resilience: Brain mechanisms and plasticity. American Psychologist, 55, 1196-1214.
• Fredrickson, B. L., Tugade, M. M., Waugh, C. E., & Larkin, G.. R. (2003). What good are positive emotions in crises? A prospective study of resilience and emotions following the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2002.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(2), 365-376.
• Gleser, G. G., Green, B. L., & Winget, C. (1981). Prolonged psychosocial effects of disaster: A study of Buffalo Creek. New York: Academic.
• Luthar, S. S. (1999). Poverty and children’s adjustment. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
• Luthar, S. S., Cicchetti, D., & Becker, B. (2000). The construct of resilience: A critical evaluation and guidelines for future work.Child Development, 71(3), 543-562.
• Luthar, S. S. & Cicchetti, D. (2000). "The construct of resilience: Implications for interventions and social policies.Development and Psychopathology, 12, 857-885.
• Masten, A. S., Best, K. M., & Garmezy, N. (1990). Resilience and development: Contributions from the study of children who overcome adversity. Development and Psychopathology, 2, 425-444.
• Masten, A. S. (1989). Resilience in development: Implications of the study of successful adaptation for developmental psychopathology. In D. Cicchetti (Ed.), The emergence of a discipline: Rochester symposium on developmental psychopathology (Vol. 1, pp. 261-294). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
• Masten, A. S. (1999). Resilience comes of age: Reflections on the past and outlook for the next generation of research. In M. D. Glantz & J. L. Johnson (Eds.), Resilience and development: Positive life adaptations (pp. 281-296). New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Press.
• Ong, A. D., Bergeman, C. S., Bisconti, T. L., & Wallace, K. A. (2006). Psychological resilience, positive emotions, and successful adaptation to stress in later life.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91(4), 730-749.
• Reivich, Karen, and Shatte, Andrew (2002) The Resilience Factor: 7 Keys to Finding Your Inner Strength and Overcoming Life's Hurdles. Broadway.
• Rutter, M. (2000). Resilience reconsidered: Conceptual considerations, empirical findings, and policy implications. In J. P. Shonkoff & S. J. Meisels (Eds.), Handbook of early childhood intervention (2nd ed., pp. 651-682). New York: Cambridge University Press.
• Terr, L. C. (1983). Chowchilla revisited: The effects of psychic trauma four years after a school-bus kidnapping. American Journal of Psychiatry, 140, 1543-1550.
• Siebert, Al (2005) The Resiliency Advantage: Master Change, Thrive under Pressure, and Bounce Back from Setbacks Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.
• Tugade, M. M., Fredrickson, B. L., & Barrett, L. F. (2004). Psychological resilience and positive emotional granularity: Examining the benefits of positive emotions on coping and health.Journal of Personality, 72(6), 1161-1190.
• Werner, E. E. & Smith, R. S. (1982). Vulnerable but invincible: A study of resilient children. New York: McGraw-Hill.
• Werner, E. E. (1995). Resilience in development.Current Directions in Psychological Science, 4, 81-85.

[edit] See also

Wikiversity has learning materials about Psychological resilience

• Al Siebert
• Coping
• Emmy Werner
• Emotional intelligence
• Health realization
• Positive psychology
• Risk
• Salutogenesis
• Self-confidence
• Self (psychology)
• Stress management

[edit] External links

• What is psychological resilience? - Wilderdom
• Classroom simulation based on Cairns and Cairns's landmark longitudinal study of adolescents (with notes for running the simulation)
• WestEd CHKS Resilience & Youth Development - Resilience Section of WestEd's California Healthy Kids Survey Website
• National Resilience Resource Center, University of Minnesota
• 40 developmental assets - Search Institute
• Resiliency Information
• Read about the book "children of the land"
• U.S. Army resilience training
• Life in school: narratives of resiliency among Vietnamese-Canadian youths
• Youth Aggression and Violence: Risk, Resilience, and Prevention. ERIC Digest
• The Iowa Youth and Families Project
• Children Of The Great Depression By Glen H. Elder, Jr.
• Promoting Resilience: A Review of Effective Strategies for Child Care Services
• Want Better Grades? Go to Church Religion was found to increase resilience in youth
• Test your resilience on The Israel Center for the Treatment of Psychotrauma website