Resilience

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Resilience
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Background

• We have seen from descriptive data that most
  people are happy.
• Individual differences approach reminds us people
  have different set points of happiness.
• SES, Income, Marital Status, contributed little
  variance.
• Behavioral genetics research presented is
  actually good news, most people predisposed to be
  happy.

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Children at Risk

• Some people have a low set point.
• If two unhappy people marry the child is at risk
  for inheriting sad genes.
• A child predisposed to experiencing lower levels
  of happiness is then raised in a home with
  unhappy parents.
• Gene-Environment Correlation

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Beyond Happiness

• These risk factors can affect a broad range of
  psychological variables.
• Aggression, Antisocial Personality, Intelligence,
  etc.
• Some children perpetuate the cycle.
• Family therapy example.
• Some do not. Why?

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Resilience

• What are the Risks facing children today?
• What Risks did your generation face?
• Risk has increased for children Divorce, abuse,
  homelessness, poverty.
• Surges in problems Suicide, substance abuse, and
  violence.

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Definitions

• Competence a pattern of effective adaptation to
  the environment.
• Competence refers to adaptation, not
  extraordinary achievement.
• Resilience competence in the context of
  significant challenges to adaptation or
  development.

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Developmental Tasks

• Preschool
• Middle childhood
• Adolescence
• There are quantitative and qualitative
  differences in tasks specified by different
  cultures.

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Childhood

• Motivated by pleasure in mastery, mastery
  motivation system.
• Developing brain very responsive to early
  experience.
• Importance of attachment. Competent mother-infant
  pair.
• Self-regulation
• Attention ADHD
• Emotion Conduct Disorder
• Compliance and Prosocial Behavior

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School Years

• Peer Relations
• Friends are a protective factor
• Good parenting can prevent antisocial behavior
• Intellectual functioning strongly associated with
  antisocial behavior.
• Parental involvement, attitudes, IQ, and
  self-efficacy all influence academic achievement.

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Ordinary Magic Masten, 2001

• How do children attain competence in the midst of
  threat?
• Results suggest a very ordinary explanation.
• Caring prosocial adults and good intellectual
  functioning.
• Normal development appears to be enough to
  protect children in adverse environments.

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Ordinary Magic Continued

• Close bond with effective parent
• Better outcome for marital discord
• Maltreatment
• Homelessness
• Multifaceted high risk
• Trauma exposure due to war or natural disaster
  proximity of caregiver is most powerful predictor
  of resilience.

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IQ

• Intellectual development may be a marker that
  cognitive development was not impaired by the
  adverse environment.
• Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, brain injury,
  malnourishment.

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Resilience

• Variables are not necessarily causal
• Price to pay? Internalizing disorders
• Timing of needs (e.g., infants)
• Cumulative Protection and Cumulative Risk