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Emmy E. Werner

Other affiliations: University of California
Bio: Emmy E. Werner is an academic researcher from University of California, Davis. The author has contributed to research in topics: Longitudinal study & Mental health. The author has an hindex of 31, co-authored 51 publications receiving 13712 citations. Previous affiliations of Emmy E. Werner include University of California.


Papers
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MonographDOI
01 Jan 1992
TL;DR: A follow-up study of a 1955 cohort of births (614 births) on Kauai island in Hawaii was conducted at birth age one and two years age 10 years age 18 years and 31-32 years.
Abstract: This study was a follow-up study of a 1955 cohort of births (614 births) on Kauai island in Hawaii. Follow-up was conducted at birth age one and two years age 10 years age 18 years and 31-32 years. The final sample in adulthood was 505 persons. The sample population was comprised of three ethnic groups (Japanese Filipino and part and full Hawaiian) and 54% grew up in poverty. Births were scored for complications as mild moderate or severe. The interviews conducted with mothers postpartum and at one and two years focused on maternal educational level socioeconomic status and family stability; environmental setting was evaluated as favorable to unfavorable on a five-point scale. The 10 year evaluation assessed school work and school behavioral problems mental abilities and stressful life events and illnesses occurring over the preceding 8 years. The home environment was evaluated on the level of educational stimulation emotional support and socioeconomic status. At 18 years a psychological inventory of self-assurance and interpersonal adequacy was conducted and community records were checked for serious mental health or criminal problems. Quality of life of the home environment was also assessed. The follow-up at age 31-32 years assessed the quality of adult adaptation from community records and interview questions which were self-evaluations of personal success satisfaction with family and social life and psychological well-being. Most of the sample led ordinary lives. Some of the stressful life events in childhood and adolescence were associated with coping problems in adulthood.

2,938 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The major findings of a longitudinal study that traced the developmental paths of a multiracial cohort of children who had been exposed to perinatal stress, chronic poverty, and a family environment troubled by chronic discord and parental psychopathology were summarized in this paper.
Abstract: This article summarizes the major findings of a longitudinal study that traced the developmental paths of a multiracial cohort of children who had been exposed to perinatal stress, chronic poverty, and a family environment troubled by chronic discord and parental psychopathology. Individuals are members of the Kauai Longitudinal Study, which followed all children born in 1955 on a Hawaiian island from the perinatal period to ages 1, 2, 10, 18, and 32 years. Several clusters of protective factors and processes were identified that enabled most of these high-risk individuals to become competent and caring adults. Implications of the findings for developmental theory and social action programs are discussed, and issues for future research are identified.

1,045 citations

Journal Article
TL;DR: The developmental courses of high-risk and resilient children were analyzed in a follow-up study of members of a 1955 birth cohort on the island of Kauai, Hawaii.
Abstract: The developmental courses of high-risk and resilient children were analyzed in a follow-up study of members of a 1955 birth cohort on the island of Kauai, Hawaii

1,024 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The developmental courses of high-risk and resilient children were analyzed in a follow-up study of members of a 1955 birth cohort on the island of Kauai, Hawaii, with males displaying greater vulnerability than females in their first decade and less during their second; another shift appears at the beginning of their fourth decade.
Abstract: The developmental courses of high-risk and resilient children were analyzed in a follow-up study of members of a 1955 birth cohort on the island of Kauai, Hawaii. Relative impact of risk and protective factors changed at various life phases, with males displaying greater vulnerability than females in their first decade and less during their second; another shift appears under way at the beginning of their fourth decade. Certain protective factors seem to have a more general effect on adaptation than do specific risk factors.

948 citations


Cited by
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A critical appraisal of resilience, a construct connoting the maintenance of positive adaptation by individuals despite experiences of significant adversity, concludes that work on resilience possesses substantial potential for augmenting the understanding of processes affecting at-risk individuals.
Abstract: This paper presents a critical appraisal of resilience, a construct connoting the maintenance of positive adaptation by individuals despite experiences of significant adversity. As empirical research on resilience has burgeoned in recent years, criticisms have been levied at work in this area. These critiques have generally focused on ambiguities in definitions and central terminology; heterogeneity in risks experienced and competence achieved by individuals viewed as resilient; instability of the phenomenon of resilience; and concerns regarding the usefulness of resilience as a theoretical construct. We address each identified criticism in turn, proposing solutions for those we view as legitimate and clarifying misunderstandings surrounding those we believe to be less valid. We conclude that work on resilience possesses substantial potential for augmenting the understanding of processes affecting at-risk individuals. Realization of the potential embodied by this construct, however, will remain constrained without continued scientific attention to some of the serious conceptual and methodological pitfalls that have been noted by skeptics and proponents alike.

7,392 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Connor‐Davidson Resilience scale (CD‐RISC) demonstrates that resilience is modifiable and can improve with treatment, with greater improvement corresponding to higher levels of global improvement.
Abstract: Resilience may be viewed as a measure of stress coping ability and, as such, could be an important target of treatment in anxiety, depression, and stress reactions. We describe a new rating scale to assess resilience. The Connor-Davidson Resilience scale (CD-RISC) comprises of 25 items, each rated on a 5-point scale (0–4), with higher scores reflecting greater resilience. The scale was administered to subjects in the following groups: community sample, primary care outpatients, general psychiatric outpatients, clinical trial of generalized anxiety disorder, and two clinical trials of PTSD. The reliability, validity, and factor analytic structure of the scale were evaluated, and reference scores for study samples were calculated. Sensitivity to treatment effects was examined in subjects from the PTSD clinical trials. The scale demonstrated good psychometric properties and factor analysis yielded five factors. A repeated measures ANOVA showed that an increase in CD-RISC score was associated with greater improvement during treatment. Improvement in CD-RISC score was noted in proportion to overall clinical global improvement, with greatest increase noted in subjects with the highest global improvement and deterioration in CD-RISC score in those with minimal or no global improvement. The CDRISC has sound psychometric properties and distinguishes between those with greater and lesser resilience. The scale demonstrates that resilience is modifiable and can improve with treatment, with greater improvement corresponding to higher levels of global improvement. Depression and Anxiety 18:76–82, 2003. & 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

6,854 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A review of research on the influence of external environments on the functioning of families as contexts of human development can be found in this article, with a focus on the patterning of environmental events and transitions over the life course as these affect and are affected by intrafamilial processes.
Abstract: This review collates and examines critically a theoretically convergent but widely dispersed body of research on the influence of external environments on the functioning of families as contexts of human development. Investigations falling within this expanding domain include studies of the interaction of genetics and environment in family processes; transitions and linkages between the family and other major settings influencing development, such as hospitals, day care, peer groups, school, social networks, the world of work (both for parents and children), and neighborhoods and communities; and public policies affecting families and children. A second major focus is on the patterning of environmental events and transitions over the life course as these affect and are affected by intrafamilial processes. Special emphasis is given to critical research gaps in knowledge and priorities for future investigation. The purpose of this article is to document and delineate promising lines of research on external influences that affect the capacity of families to foster the healthy development of their children. The focus differs from that of most studies of the family as a context of human development, because the majority have concentrated on intrafamilial processes of parent-child interaction, a fact that is reflected in Maccoby and Martin's (1983) recent authoritative review of research on family influences on development. By contrast, the focus of the present analysis can be described as "once removed." The research question becomes: How are intrafamilial processes affected by extrafamilial conditions? Paradigm Parameters In tracing the evolution of research models in developmental science, Bronfenbrenner and Crouter (1983) distinguished a series of progressively more sophisticated scientific paradigms for investigating the impact of environment on development. These paradigms provide a useful framework for ordering and analyzing studies bearing on the topic of this review. At the most general level, the research models vary simultaneously along two dimensions. As applied to the subject at hand, the first pertains

6,114 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: An examination of converging findings from variable-focused and person-focused investigations of resilience suggests that resilience is common and that it usually arises from the normative functions of human adaptational systems, with the greatest threats to human development being those that compromise these protective systems.
Abstract: The study of resilience in development has overturned many negative assumptions and deficit-focused models about children growing up under the threat of disadvantage and adversity. The most surprising conclusion emerging from studies of these children is the ordinariness of resilience. An examination of converging findings from variable-focused and person-focused investigations of these phenomena suggests that resilience is common and that it usually arises from the normative functions of human adaptational systems, with the greatest threats to human development being those that compromise these protective systems. The conclusion that resilience is made of ordinary rather than extraordinary processes offers a more positive outlook on human development and adaptation, as well as direction for policy and practice aimed at enhancing the development of children at risk for problems and psychopathology.

5,961 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Evidence is reviewed that resilience represents a distinct trajectory from the process of recovery, that resilience in the face of loss or potential trauma is more common than is often believed, and that there are multiple and sometimes unexpected pathways to resilience.
Abstract: Many people are exposed to loss or potentially traumatic events at some point in their lives, and yet they continue to have positive emotional experiences and show only minor and transient disruptions in their ability to function. Unfortunately, because much of psychology’s knowledge about how adults cope with loss or trauma has come from individuals who sought treatment or exhibited great distress, loss and trauma theorists have often viewed this type of resilience as either rare or pathological. The author challenges these assumptions by reviewing evidence that resilience represents a distinct trajectory from the process of recovery, that resilience in the face of loss or potential trauma is more common than is often believed, and that there are multiple and sometimes unexpected pathways to resilience. M ost people are exposed to at least one violent or life-threatening situation during the course of their lives (Ozer, Best, Lipsey, & Weiss, 2003). As people progress through the life cycle, they are also increasingly confronted with the deaths of close friends and relatives. Not everyone copes with these potentially disturbing events in the same way. Some people experience acute distress from which they are unable to recover. Others suffer less intensely and for a much shorter period of time. Some people seem to recover quickly but then begin to experience unexpected health problems or difficulties concentrating or enjoying life the way they used to. However, large numbers of people manage to endure the temporary upheaval of loss or potentially traumatic events remarkably well, with no apparent disruption in their ability to function at work or in close relationships, and seem to move on to new challenges with apparent ease. This article is devoted to the latter group and to the question of resilience in the face of loss or potentially traumatic events. The importance of protective psychological factors in the prevention of illness is now well established (Taylor, Kemeny, Reed, Bower, & Gruenewald, 2000). Moreover, developmental psychologists have shown that resilience is common among children growing up in disadvantaged conditions (e.g., Masten, 2001). Unfortunately, because most of the psychological knowledge base regarding the ways adults cope with loss or potential trauma has been derived from individuals who have experienced significant psychological problems or sought treatment, theorists working in this area have often underestimated and misunderstood resilience, viewing it either as a pathological state or as something seen only in rare and exceptionally healthy individuals. In this article, I challenge this view by reviewing evidence that resilience in the face of loss or potential trauma represents a distinct trajectory from that of recovery, that resilience is more common than often believed, and that there are multiple and sometimes unexpected pathways to resilience.

5,415 citations