Resilience

A term originating in the natural sciences, resilience refers to the capacity of a system or an organism to bounce back from stress and maintain normal functioning. The concept of resilience has been particularly influential in the fields of developmental psychopathology and human development, although it is also used today by economists, defense strategists, and emergency planners. This entry defines resilience, offers an overview of resilience research in the context of childhood studies, and explores some critiques of this research.

Defining Resilience

Since the 1980s, resilience has been the object of research in the behavioral sciences focused on the question of why some children develop into competent and mentally healthy adults in spite of the presence of adversity in their formative years. Building upon a knowledge of ...

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