Chapter 1: Introduction
After World War II, there was a rapid expansion of research in psychology, psychiatry, and
related fields seeking to advance knowledge about the causes of mental health and
behavioral problems, with the goal of better treatments or prevention.
They began by identifying risk factors associated with the negative outcomes of interest
Many risk factors or predictors of mental and behavioral problems were identified and fell
into three major categories:
- Genetic risk or being related to people with serious mental disorders
- Exposure to stressful life experiences (war, maltreatment, divorce)
- Status indicators of precarious life circumstances (premature birth, low SES, unwed
teenage parents)
Four waves of resilience science:
1. The first wave: descriptive. Scientists began systematically to define, measure, and
describe the phenomenon of good function or outcomes in the context of risk or
adversity and attempt to identify the predictors of resilience.
o Focus on individual factors
o Lacked understanding of processes
2. The second wave: the processes of resilience and shifted attention to the how
questions.
o Resilience as a process
o Developmental and ecological systems
o Unable to inform interventions
3. The third wave: promoting resilience through interventions while testing theories
from the first two waves.
o Lacked integration of neurobiological and social systems
4. The fourth wave: characterized by dynamic, systems-oriented approaches, with a
focus on interactions of genes with experience, persons with contexts, connecting
levels of analysis, and multidisciplinary integration.
Ordinary magic:
Evidence strongly suggest that resilience is common and typically arises from the operation of
basic protections.
Resilience emerges from commonplace adaptive systems for human development.
Summary Resiliance to Violence 2023-2024 1
,What exactly does resilience mean in developmental science?
Resiliance is: the capacity of a dynamic system to adapt successfully to disturbances that
threaten system function, viability, or development.
Patterns and pathways of resilience:
Path A shows: a steady course of good functioning even though there is an acute trauma
experienced at time x. (stress invulnerable or stress resistant)
Path B shows: resilience characterized by trauma and recovery. (trauma and recovery, late
bloomers)
Path C shows: a major shift in the quality of adaptation or development over time, from poor
functioning to good functioning. (normalization)
Path D shows: posttraumatic growth.
Two judgements: the criteria for resilience
Resilience is inferred from two sets of evaluations:
- One concerning the nature of threat posed by their life experiences
- Second one about the quality of adjustment or a person’s development.
Summary Resiliance to Violence 2023-2024 2
, 1. Judging threat to child development and adaptation:
Risk factors are established predictors of undesirable outcomes, where there is
evidence suggesting a higher-than-usual probability of a future problem.
Examples are: low birth weight, family violence, low SES, divorce, harsh or neglectful
parenting, natural disasters, terrorism.
o Risk factors are often related to one another: risk predicts risk.
o Risk factors may reflect underlying processes that are so fundamental that
they undermine more than one aspect of adaptation and development.
o The same risk factor could account for snowballing problems in multiple
domains
Cumulative risk = risk factors rarely appear in isolation in the lives of children.
Two major approaches to the study of cumulative risk:
o One is focused on tabulating the number of known risk factors present in a
person’s life.
o The second calculates the level of exposure to stressful events and experience.
2. Judging how well life is going: developmental tasks, competence, and cascades
Two popular kinds of criteria for judging outcomes focus on positive or negative
function in terms of:
(1) Competence of success in age-salient developmental tasks or
(2) Symptoms of psychopathology
Developmental studies of resilience often define good adaptation in relation to
success in age-salient developmental tasks.
o Developmental tasks typically include observable, achievements, such as
talking or academic achievement, but they also may include internal
achievements such as happiness or a sense of identity.
Summary Resiliance to Violence 2023-2024 3
, Common age-salient
developmental tasks:
- Forming attachment bonds with primary caregivers
Infancy period: - Learning to sit and crawl
- Emerging: learning to communicate by gesture and language
- Waning: crawling
Toddler and preschool period: - Learning to walk, run, speak the language of the family
- Obeying simple commands
- Learning to play with other children
- Emerging: self-control of attention and impulses
- Attending school and behaving
Early school years: - Learning to read and write
- Getting along with other children
- Respecting and obeying elders
- Emerging: making close friend
- Adjusting to physical maturation
Adolescence: - Successful transitioning to secondary schooling
- Forming close friendships
- Emerging: exploring identity, romantic relationships, work
- Waning: academic achievement
Early adulthood: - Achieving a cohesive sense of self
- Forming a close romantic relationship
- Establishing a career/family
- Emerging: civic engagement
What makes a difference:
Practical goal: to inform efforts to change the odds in favor of positive adaptation and
development.
Summary Resiliance to Violence 2023-2024 4
After World War II, there was a rapid expansion of research in psychology, psychiatry, and
related fields seeking to advance knowledge about the causes of mental health and
behavioral problems, with the goal of better treatments or prevention.
They began by identifying risk factors associated with the negative outcomes of interest
Many risk factors or predictors of mental and behavioral problems were identified and fell
into three major categories:
- Genetic risk or being related to people with serious mental disorders
- Exposure to stressful life experiences (war, maltreatment, divorce)
- Status indicators of precarious life circumstances (premature birth, low SES, unwed
teenage parents)
Four waves of resilience science:
1. The first wave: descriptive. Scientists began systematically to define, measure, and
describe the phenomenon of good function or outcomes in the context of risk or
adversity and attempt to identify the predictors of resilience.
o Focus on individual factors
o Lacked understanding of processes
2. The second wave: the processes of resilience and shifted attention to the how
questions.
o Resilience as a process
o Developmental and ecological systems
o Unable to inform interventions
3. The third wave: promoting resilience through interventions while testing theories
from the first two waves.
o Lacked integration of neurobiological and social systems
4. The fourth wave: characterized by dynamic, systems-oriented approaches, with a
focus on interactions of genes with experience, persons with contexts, connecting
levels of analysis, and multidisciplinary integration.
Ordinary magic:
Evidence strongly suggest that resilience is common and typically arises from the operation of
basic protections.
Resilience emerges from commonplace adaptive systems for human development.
Summary Resiliance to Violence 2023-2024 1
,What exactly does resilience mean in developmental science?
Resiliance is: the capacity of a dynamic system to adapt successfully to disturbances that
threaten system function, viability, or development.
Patterns and pathways of resilience:
Path A shows: a steady course of good functioning even though there is an acute trauma
experienced at time x. (stress invulnerable or stress resistant)
Path B shows: resilience characterized by trauma and recovery. (trauma and recovery, late
bloomers)
Path C shows: a major shift in the quality of adaptation or development over time, from poor
functioning to good functioning. (normalization)
Path D shows: posttraumatic growth.
Two judgements: the criteria for resilience
Resilience is inferred from two sets of evaluations:
- One concerning the nature of threat posed by their life experiences
- Second one about the quality of adjustment or a person’s development.
Summary Resiliance to Violence 2023-2024 2
, 1. Judging threat to child development and adaptation:
Risk factors are established predictors of undesirable outcomes, where there is
evidence suggesting a higher-than-usual probability of a future problem.
Examples are: low birth weight, family violence, low SES, divorce, harsh or neglectful
parenting, natural disasters, terrorism.
o Risk factors are often related to one another: risk predicts risk.
o Risk factors may reflect underlying processes that are so fundamental that
they undermine more than one aspect of adaptation and development.
o The same risk factor could account for snowballing problems in multiple
domains
Cumulative risk = risk factors rarely appear in isolation in the lives of children.
Two major approaches to the study of cumulative risk:
o One is focused on tabulating the number of known risk factors present in a
person’s life.
o The second calculates the level of exposure to stressful events and experience.
2. Judging how well life is going: developmental tasks, competence, and cascades
Two popular kinds of criteria for judging outcomes focus on positive or negative
function in terms of:
(1) Competence of success in age-salient developmental tasks or
(2) Symptoms of psychopathology
Developmental studies of resilience often define good adaptation in relation to
success in age-salient developmental tasks.
o Developmental tasks typically include observable, achievements, such as
talking or academic achievement, but they also may include internal
achievements such as happiness or a sense of identity.
Summary Resiliance to Violence 2023-2024 3
, Common age-salient
developmental tasks:
- Forming attachment bonds with primary caregivers
Infancy period: - Learning to sit and crawl
- Emerging: learning to communicate by gesture and language
- Waning: crawling
Toddler and preschool period: - Learning to walk, run, speak the language of the family
- Obeying simple commands
- Learning to play with other children
- Emerging: self-control of attention and impulses
- Attending school and behaving
Early school years: - Learning to read and write
- Getting along with other children
- Respecting and obeying elders
- Emerging: making close friend
- Adjusting to physical maturation
Adolescence: - Successful transitioning to secondary schooling
- Forming close friendships
- Emerging: exploring identity, romantic relationships, work
- Waning: academic achievement
Early adulthood: - Achieving a cohesive sense of self
- Forming a close romantic relationship
- Establishing a career/family
- Emerging: civic engagement
What makes a difference:
Practical goal: to inform efforts to change the odds in favor of positive adaptation and
development.
Summary Resiliance to Violence 2023-2024 4
