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.
What exactly does resilience mean in developmental science?
1
,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.
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.
2
, 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.
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 - Learning to walk, run, speak the language of the
period: 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
3
, - 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
Chapter 2: Models of Resilience
There are two different approaches:
Person-focused models of resilience:
Studies that are characterized by the identification of individuals who have
a life history suggesting resilience.
The single case:
Most single-case accounts of resilience consist of biographical or
autobiographical accounts that include an extraordinary variety of
adversities endured and successes achieved by real people, with the rich
complexity of human life detailed over time. (Harry Potter)
Strengths & limitations:
- Strengths: provide powerful and compelling examples of resilience
and capture the configural nature of resilience.
- Limitations: not necessarily successful in equal measure across
domains and raise questions about generalizability.
Aggregated cases:
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.
What exactly does resilience mean in developmental science?
1
,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.
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.
2
, 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.
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 - Learning to walk, run, speak the language of the
period: 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
3
, - 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
Chapter 2: Models of Resilience
There are two different approaches:
Person-focused models of resilience:
Studies that are characterized by the identification of individuals who have
a life history suggesting resilience.
The single case:
Most single-case accounts of resilience consist of biographical or
autobiographical accounts that include an extraordinary variety of
adversities endured and successes achieved by real people, with the rich
complexity of human life detailed over time. (Harry Potter)
Strengths & limitations:
- Strengths: provide powerful and compelling examples of resilience
and capture the configural nature of resilience.
- Limitations: not necessarily successful in equal measure across
domains and raise questions about generalizability.
Aggregated cases:
4
