Positive Development Across the Life Span: Resilience 🌱💪
🎯 Objectives
- Describing what is Psychological Resilience? 🧠✨
- Describing resilience research 🔬📊
- Understanding "Good Adaptation" 🌟🔄
- Understanding core characteristics of resilient children 👧👦💎
🚀 Life Enhancement Strategies
The following dimensions can be used as life enhancement strategies for achieving greater subjective well-being: 🌈✨
❤️ Relationships
- Identify the role of your explanatory style in family success/failure 🏠🔍
- Set goals for enhancing important relationships; identify pathways and sources of agency 🎯🤝
💼 Work
- Expect the best; nurture the optimistic thoughts 🌞💭
- Direct your energy on small goals after small goals 📈🎯
🎮 Play
- Note down messages on TV designed to enhance self-efficacy 📺✍️
🌿 Resilience: Healthy Adjustment to Difficult Childhood
One of the assumptions of early theories of child development was that a poor family environment inevitably leads to less healthy adult personality development. 📚🏚️ Recently, some studies have found that poor early environments do not necessarily result in psychological problems for the children as adults. 🔬💡
In fact, what is surprising is that some children who grow up in very difficult homes turn out to be quite well adjusted as adults. 🌟👶➡️🧑 These studies are relatively consistent in finding a group of children who thrive in spite of difficult backgrounds that include: 💪🌱
- Chronic poverty 💰❌
- Parental neglect 😔👨👩👧
- Parental psychopathology 🧠⚠️
- Abuse 💔
- Living in the midst of war ⚔️🏃
However, these findings should not be taken as evidence that early family environments are unimportant—they are extremely important! 🏠❤️ Rather, these findings point to the fact that some children learn how to adjust to the difficult environments and are less affected than other children. 🧒🛡️✨
📖 Case Study: An 11-Year-Old's Resilience
Garmezy, Masten, and Tellegen (1984) describe one such child, an 11-year-old boy, who came from: 👦📋
- A poor home with an alcoholic father 🍺😢
- A troubled mother 😟
- Two brothers who were involved in crime 👥⚖️
- Two other special-needs siblings 🧩
- Both parents were depressed and approached life with a sense of hopelessness and helplessness 😔💭
In spite of this background, the school principal described this boy as someone who got along well with others and was liked by everyone! 🤝😊 The boy was a good athlete who had won several trophies 🏆, was well-mannered, bright, and "a good kid." ⭐👍
🧠 What is Psychological Resilience?
Early views of learning, conditioning, and image of human beings as simply reactive to stimuli have shifted. 🔄💭 The new perspective is that we are more active participants in shaping our own development; people can anticipate upcoming changes and prepare themselves for life challenges. 🌟🚀
📚 Definition of Psychological Resilience
Primary Definition: "An individual's capacity to withstand stressors and not manifest psychological dysfunction such as mental illness or persistent negative mood." 🛡️💪
Further Definition: A person's capacity to avoid psychopathology despite difficult circumstances. 🧠✨
🌟 Masten & Reed's Definition (2002)
Specifically, resilience refers to:
"…a class of phenomena characterized by patterns of positive adaptation in the context of significant adversity or risk." 🌈💎
🎯 What is "Good Adaptation"?
Researchers disagree on the answer to the question, "Bounced back to what?" 🤔❓ When determining a resilient child's level of post-threat functioning, observers are looking for: 🔍📊
- Return to normal functioning (i.e., attainment of developmental milestones) 📈✅
- Evidence of excellence (functioning that is above and beyond that expected of a child of a similar age) 🌟🏆
🔄 Two Types of Adaptation
| Type 📋 | Description 📝 | Researcher Agreement 🤝 |
|---|---|---|
| External Adaptation 🌍 | Meeting the social, educational, and occupational expectations of society | Agreed as necessary ✅ |
| Internal Adaptation 💭 | Positive psychological well-being | Researchers are split 🤷 |
📊 Werner's Studies (1995)
Werner collaborated with her colleague, Ruth Smith (Werner & Smith, 1982, 1992), in a landmark study involving a cohort of 700 children born on the island of Kauai (in Hawaii) from 1955 to 1995. 🏝️👶
🔬 Study Details
- From birth on, psychological data were collected from the children and adult caregivers 📋👨👩👧
- Many caregivers worked in jobs associated with the sugarcane plantations that used to dominate the island 🌾🏭
- At birth, one-third of these children were considered high risk for academic and social problems 📉⚠️
⚠️ Risk Factors Identified
- Deficits in family support and home environments 🏠❌
- Poverty 💰😢
- Parental alcoholism 🍺
- Domestic violence 🏠💔
💎 Core Characteristics of Resilient Children (Werner, 1995)
Werner (1995) described a core group of characteristics that she believed were typical of resilient children across various studies: 🌟👧👦
1️⃣ Finding a Nurturing Surrogate Parent 👨👩👧❤️
The ability to emotionally detach from a disturbed parent was only the first step. 🚶♂️➡️ In addition to distancing themselves from unhealthy relationships, the children had to be able to find someone else who could fill the role of caring and supportive parent. 🤗💕
This ability to find a surrogate parent may have been in part the result of a temperament that was: 🌈
- Active 🏃
- Affectionate 💗
- Cuddly 🤗
- Good-natured 😊
- Easy to deal with ✨
Often the children also managed to form a close relationship with at least one teacher who served as a role model. 👨🏫🌟
2️⃣ Good Social and Communication Skills 🗣️🤝
- Had at least one close friend 👯♂️💕
- Seemed to have a desire to help others 🤲💖
- Provided some nurturance to other people 🌱❤️
3️⃣ Creative Outlets and Hobbies 🎨🎵
The children had creative outlets, activities, or hobbies that they could focus on when life became even more difficult. 🎭🏀 Competence with this activity gave them a sense of pride and mastery. 🏆💪
4️⃣ Optimistic Belief System 🌞💭
These children seemed to believe that life would somehow work out well. They displayed: ✨🌈
- Fairly optimistic outlook 😊🌅
- Internal locus of control 🎮🧠
- Positive self-concept 💪🪞
- A style of coping that combined autonomy with the ability to ask for help when necessary 🤝🆘
5️⃣ Religious Beliefs and Meaning 🙏✨
Their families held religious beliefs that provided meaning in difficult times. 📿🕊️💫
👧👦 Promoting Resilience across Gender (Werner, 1995)
Werner (1995) also mentioned that family factors that promote resiliency were different for boys and girls: 🔄💡
👦 Resilient Boys Need
- A household with good structure and rules 🏠📋
- A male role model 👨🌟
- Encouragement of emotional expressiveness 💬❤️
👧 Resilient Girls Need
- Homes that emphasized risk taking 🎯🚀
- Independence 🦋💪
- Reliable support from an older female 👩🦳❤️
🔬 Study by E.J. Anthony (1987)
E.J. Anthony (1987) followed three hundred children of schizophrenic parents for twelve years and found that about 10 percent of the children were very well adjusted in spite of some very bizarre home environments. 📊🏠
💡 Key Finding
In contrast to attachment theory, Anthony believed that these children thrived because they could detach themselves emotionally from their schizophrenic parents. 🧠🔓 This emotional detachment served as a protective factor! 🛡️✨
📋 Sybil & Wolin (2000): Characteristics of Resilient Adults
Sybil & Wolin interviewed several adolescents and defined the following characteristics in resilient adults which they suggested to use to build intervention strategies: 🎯💪
- Insight 🔍💡 - Understanding oneself and situations deeply
- Independence 🦅💪 - Self-reliance and autonomy
- Good Relationships 🤝❤️ - Building and maintaining healthy connections
- Initiative 🚀🎯 - Taking action and being proactive
- Creativity 🎨✨ - Finding novel solutions and expressions
- Humor 😂🌈 - Using laughter as a coping mechanism
- Good Moral Standards ⚖️🌟 - Having strong ethical principles
📝 Key Takeaways
- Resilience is the capacity to withstand stressors without manifesting psychological dysfunction 🛡️💪
- Children can thrive despite difficult backgrounds including poverty, neglect, and abuse 🌱✨
- "Good adaptation" includes both external (social expectations) and potentially internal (psychological well-being) factors 🎯🧠
- Werner's 40-year Kauai study identified core characteristics of resilient children 📊🏝️
- Resilience factors differ by gender—boys need structure and male role models; girls need independence and female support 👦👧
- Finding surrogate caregivers and mentors is crucial for resilient development 👨🏫❤️
- Creative outlets, optimism, and religious beliefs serve as protective factors 🎨🌞🙏
📖 References
- Snyder, C.R., & Lopez, S.J. (2007). Positive Psychology. London: Sage Publications (pp. 99-110). 📕
- Compton, W. C., (2005). An Introduction to Positive Psychology. USA: Thomson Learning Inc (pp. 151-153). 📗