Most children face adversity. Some of the challenges they face have been associated with diverse negative consequences for their well-being. Nevertheless, despite negative outcomes predicted and expected, most children bounce back and have functional lives ensuring their own sense of well being. Everybody has the capacity for resiliency.
Resiliency is not a new concept. Research has tried to understand this human tendency to strive for a healthier and more positive development for approximately the last 50 years. Masten (2001) affirms, “[w]hat began as a quest to understand the extraordinary has revealed the power of the ordinary. Resiliency does not come from rare and special qualities, but from the everyday magic of ordinary, normative human resources in the minds, brains, and bodies of children, in their families and relationships, and in their communities” (p. 235).
These assertions represent the shift from traditional research on pathology and risk to resiliency research (Fraser, Kirby, & Smokowski, 2004). According to Benard (2004), a consistent and remarkable finding in this research (both quantitative and qualitative) is that most children somehow manage to have positive lives and develop successfully, including the most challenged ones from troubled families and disadvantaged communities. In fact, most research shows that an average of 70% to 75 % of children who seemed at a greater risk for later problems make it (Benard, 2004). For instance, Werner and Smith (1982) carried out a longitudinal study, following almost 700 children who were born in Kauai (Hawaii) in 1955. Data collected at six different ages, including birth through adulthood showed that these children, despite being challenged by a variety of risk factors as they were growing up, could achieve positive outcomes in adulthood.
The Strengths Perspective facilitates this normative human process that directs people toward a healthy development fulfilling their potential. This perspective provides structure and content as it assesses attainable goals, mobilizes resources to promote change and self-esteem, and instills hope in the future. Further, resiliency theory and the Strengths Perspective share a common faith in human beings that characterizes a possibility-focused paradigm. Social workers who are interested in this perspective, and committed to the core values of our profession, are challenged to explore their attitudes, beliefs, biases, and their own selves in order to generate a shift in the way they perceive themselves, their clients, and their relationship with them.
Susana Mariscal
Masten, A. (2001). Ordinary magic: Resilience processes in development. American Psychologist, 56(3), 227-238.
Fraser, M. W., Kirby, L. D., & Smokowski, P. R. (2004). Risk and resilience in childhood. In M. W. Fraser (Ed.), Risk and resilience in childhood (pp. 13-66). Washington D.C,: NASW Press.
Fraser, M. W., & Richman, J. M. (2001). Resilience: Implications for evidence-based practice. In J. M. Richman & M. W. Fraser (Eds.), The context of youth violence. Resilience, risk, and protection (pp. 187-198). Wesport, Connecticut: Praeger.
Saleebey, D. (2001). Human behavior and social environments: A biopsychosocial approach. New York: Columbia University Press.
Werner, E. E., & Smith, R. S. (1992). Overcoming the odds: High-risk children from birth to adulthood. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
BooksBenard, B. (2004). Resiliency. What we have learned. San Francisco: WestEd. Desetta, A., & Wolin, S. (2000). The struggle to be strong. True stories by teens about overcoming tough times. Canada: Free Spirit Publishing. Fraser, M. W. (Ed.). (2004). Risk and resilience in childhood. Washington D.C,: NASW Press. Gilligan, R. (2001). Promoting resilience: A resource guide on working with children in the care system. London: British Agencies for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF). Kaplan, M. (1997). On playing a poor hand well: Insights from the lives of those who have overcome childhood risks and adversities. New York: W. W. Norton. Luthar, S. S. (Ed.). (2003). Resilience and vulnerability. Adaptations in the context of childhood adversities. New York: Cambridge University Press. Norman, E. (Ed.). (2000). Resiliency enhancement. Putting the Strengths Perspective into social work practice. New York: Columbia University Press. Ridgway, P., McDiarmid, D., Davidson, L., Bayes, J., & Ratzlaff, S. (2002). Pathways to recovery: A strengths recovery self-help workbook. Lawrence, KS: School of Social Welfare, University of Kansas. Robbins, S. P., Chatterjee, P., & Canda, E. R. (1998). Contemporary human behavior theory : A critical perspective for social work. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Robbins, S. P., Chatterjee, P., & Canda, E. R. (2006). Contemporary human behavior theory : A critical perspective for social work (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon. Saleebey, D. (1992). The Strengths Perspective in social work practice. New York: Longman. Saleebey, D. (1997). The Strengths Perspective in social work practice (2nd ed.). New York: Longman. Saleebey, D. (2001). Human behavior and social environments: A biopsychosocial approach. New York: Columbia University Press. Saleebey, D. (2006). The strengths approach to practice. In D. Saleebey (Ed.), The Strengths Perspective in social work practice (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Swadener, B. B., & Lubeck, S. D. (Eds.). (1995). Children and families “at promise”: Deconstructing the discourse of risk. Albany: SUNY Press. Vaillant, G. E. (2002). Aging well: Surprising guidelines to a happier life. Boston: Little, Brown & Co. Walsh, F. (1998). Strengthening family resilience. New York: The Guilford Press. Walsh, F. (2003). Normal family processes: Growing diversity and complexity (3rd Ed.). New York: Guilford Press. Werner, E., & Smith, R. (2001). Journeys from childhood to midlife. Risk, resilience, and recovery. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Werner, E. E., & Smith, R. S. (1992). Overcoming the odds: High-risk children from birth to adulthood. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. Wolin, S., Desetta, A., & Hefner, K. (2000). A leader's guide to the struggle to be strong. How to foster resilience in teens. Minneapolis: Free Spirit Publishing. Wolin, S., & S., W. (1993). The resilient self: How survivors of troubled families rise above adversity. New York: Villard.
Book ChaptersBenard, B. (2002). Turnaround people and places: Moving from risk to resilience. In D. Saleebey (Ed.), The Strengths Perspective in social work practice (3rd ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Benard, B. (2006). Using strengths-based practice to tap the resilience of families. In D. Saleebey (Ed.), The Strengths Perspective in social work practice (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Canda, E. R. (2002). The significance of spirituality for resilient response to chronic illness: A qualitative study of adults with cystic fibrosis In D. Saleebey (Ed.), The Strengths Perspective in social work practice (3rd ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Canda, E. R. (2006). The significance of spirituality for resilient response to chronic illness: A qualitative study of adults with cystic fibrosis In D. Saleebey (Ed.), The Strengths Perspective in social work practice (3rd ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Fraser, M. W., Kirby, L. D., & Smokowski, P. R. (2004). Risk and resilience in childhood. In M. W. Fraser (Ed.), Risk and resilience in childhood (pp. 13-66). Washington D.C,: NASW Press. Fraser, M. W., & Richman, J. M. (2001). Resilience: Implications for evidence-based practice. In J. M. Richman & M. W. Fraser (Eds.), The context of youth violence. Resilience, risk, and protection (pp. 187-198). Wesport, Connecticut: Praeger. O'Dougherty Wright, M., & Masten, A. (2005). Resilience processes in development. Fostering positive adaptations in the context of adversity. In S. Goldstein & R. Brooks (Eds.), Handbook of resilience in children (pp. 17 -37). New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.
Other resourcesAnderson, K. M. (2001). Recovery: Resistance and resilience in female incest survivors. Unpublished Thesis (Ph. D.), University of Kansas, Social Welfare, 2001. Ridgway, P. A. (2004). Hope and mental health recovery: Co-constructing new paradigm knowledge. Unpublished Thesis (Ph.D.), University of Kansas, Social Welfare, 2004.
ArticlesBanerjee, M. M., & Pyles, L. (2004). Spirituality: A source of resilience for African American women in the era of welfare reform. Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Diversity in Social Work, 13(2), 45-70. Deegan, P. E. (2005). The importance of personal medicine: A qualitative study of resilience in people with psychiatric disabilities. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, 33(66), 29-35. Masten, A. (2001). Ordinary magic: Resilience processes in development. American Psychologist, 56(3), 227-238. Nakashima, M., & Canda, E. R. (2005). Positive dying and resiliency in later life: A qualitative study. Journal of Aging Studies 19(1), 109-125. Severson, M. E., Postmus, J. L., & Berry, M. (2005). Incarcerated women: Consequences and contributions of victimization, risk, and resiliency. International Journal of Prisoner Health, 1(2), 1-18. Werner, E. (1995). Resilience in development. Current Directions in Psychology, 4(3), 81-85. Wolin, S., & Wolin, S. J. (1996). The challenge model: The challenge model working with strengths in children of substance-abusing parents. Adolescent Substance Abuse and Dual Disorders, 5, 243-256.
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"Risk factors and stressful environments do not inevitably lead to poor adaptation. It seems clear that, at each stage in an individual’s development from birth to maturity, there is a shifting balance between stressful events that heighten vulnerability and protective factors that enhance resilience. "
Emmy Werner , Scientific American, April, 1989, p. 111
