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Journal ArticleDOI

Resilience across Cultures

18 Oct 2006-British Journal of Social Work (Oxford University Press)-Vol. 38, Iss: 2, pp 218-235
TL;DR: In this article, a 14 site mixed methods study of over 1500 youth globally support four propositions that underlie a more culturally and contextually embedded understanding of resilience: 1) there are global and context specific aspects to young people's lives that contribute to their resilience; 2) aspects of resilience exert differing amounts of influence on a child's life depending on the specific culture and context in which resilience is realized.
Abstract: Summary Findings from a 14 site mixed methods study of over 1500 youth globally support four propositions that underlie a more culturally and contextually embedded understanding of resilience: 1) there are global, as well as culturally and contextually specific aspects to young people’s lives that contribute to their resilience; 2) aspects of resilience exert differing amounts of influence on a child’s life depending on the specific culture and context in which resilience is realized; 3) aspects of children’s lives that contribute to resilience are related to one another in patterns that reflect a child’s culture and context; 4) tensions between individuals and their cultures and contexts are resolved in ways that reflect highly specific relationships between aspects of resilience. The implications of this cultural and contextual understanding of resilience to interventions with at-risk populations are discussed.

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors review and critique the variety of definitions, concepts, and theories of psychological resilience and conclude that resilience is required in response to different adversities, ranging from ongoing daily hassles to major life events, and that positive adaptation must be conceptually appropriate to the adversity examined in terms of the domains assessed and the stringency of criteria used.
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to review and critique the variety of definitions, concepts, and theories of psychological resilience. To this end, the narrative is divided into three main sections. The first considers how resilience has been defined in the psychology research literature. Despite the construct being operationalized in a variety of ways, most definitions are based around two core concepts: adversity and positive adaptation. A substantial body of evidence suggests that resilience is required in response to different adversities, ranging from ongoing daily hassles to major life events, and that positive adaptation must be conceptually appropriate to the adversity examined in terms of the domains assessed and the stringency of criteria used. The second section examines the conceptualization of resilience as either a trait or a process, and explores how it is distinct from a number of related terms. Resilience is conceptualized as the interactive influence of psychological characteristics within the context of the stress process. The final section reviews the theories of resilience and critically examines one theory in particular that is commonly cited in the resilience literature. Future theories in this area should take into account the multiple demands individuals encounter, the meta-cognitive and -emotive processes that affect the resilience-stress relationship, and the conceptual distinction between resilience and coping. The review concludes with implications for policy, practice, and research including the need to carefully manage individuals’ immediate environment, and to develop the protective and promotive factors that individuals can proactively use to build resilience.

1,428 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, inspired by the plenary panel at the 2013 meeting of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, Steven Southwick and multidisciplinary panelists tackle some of the most pressing current questions in the field of resilience research including how do the authors define resilience, what are the most important determinants of resilience, and how are new technologies informing the science of resilience?
Abstract: In this paper, inspired by the plenary panel at the 2013 meeting of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, Dr. Steven Southwick (chair) and multidisciplinary panelists Drs. George Bonanno, Ann Masten, Catherine Panter-Brick, and Rachel Yehuda tackle some of the most pressing current questions in the field of resilience research including: (1) how do we define resilience, (2) what are the most important determinants of resilience, (3) how are new technologies informing the science of resilience, and (4) what are the most effective ways to enhance resilience? These multidisciplinary experts provide insight into these difficult questions, and although each of the panelists had a slightly different definition of resilience, most of the proposed definitions included a concept of healthy, adaptive, or integrated positive functioning over the passage of time in the aftermath of adversity. The panelists agreed that resilience is a complex construct and it may be defined differently in the context of individuals, families, organizations, societies, and cultures. With regard to the determinants of resilience, there was a consensus that the empirical study of this construct needs to be approached from a multiple level of analysis perspective that includes genetic, epigenetic, developmental, demographic, cultural, economic, and social variables. The empirical study of determinates of resilience will inform efforts made at fostering resilience, with the recognition that resilience may be enhanced on numerous levels (e.g., individual, family, community, culture). Keywords: Resilience; stress; trauma; post-traumatic stress disorder Responsible Editors: Ananda Amstadter, Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, VA, USA; Nicole Nugent, Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, RI, USA. This paper is part of the Special Issue: Resilience and Trauma . More papers from this issue can be found at http://www.eurojnlofpsychotraumatol.net (Published: 1 October 2014) Citation: European Journal of Psychotraumatology 2014, 5 : 25338 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/ejpt.v5.25338

1,358 citations


Cites background from "Resilience across Cultures"

  • ...There is a huge literature now on the topic of resilience in children and youth (e.g., Cicchetti, 2010, 2013; Masten, 2011, 2014a, 2014b; Panter-Brick & Leckman, 2013; Ungar, 2008, 2012; Ungar, Ghazinour & Richter, 2013)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Because resilience occurs even when risk factors are plentiful, greater emphasis needs to be placed on the role social and physical ecologies play in positive developmental outcomes when individuals encounter significant amounts of stress.
Abstract: More than two decades after E. E. Werner and R. S. Smith (1982), N. Garmezy (1983), and M. Rutter (1987) published their research on protective mechanisms and processes that are most likely to foster resilience, ambiguity continues regarding how to define and operationalize positive development under adversity. This article argues that, because resilience occurs even when risk factors are plentiful, greater emphasis needs to be placed on the role social and physical ecologies play in positive developmental outcomes when individuals encounter significant amounts of stress. Four principles are presented as the basis for an ecological interpretation of the resilience construct: decentrality, complexity, atypicality, and cultural relativity. These 4 principles, and the research upon which they are based, inform a definition of resilience that emphasizes the environmental antecedents of positive growth. This framework can guide future theory development, research, and the design of interventions that promote well-being among populations who experience environments that inhibit resilience-promoting processes.

1,097 citations


Cites background or result from "Resilience across Cultures"

  • ...Similar findings are reported in an 11-country study by Ungar and his colleagues (Ungar, 2008; Ungar et al., 2008) of 1,451 youth....

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  • ...Meanwhile, culture-based studies are arguing for sensitivity to the unique social ecologies of their participants and are employing mixed methods designs to balance emic and etic perspectives of resilience (Ungar, 2008)....

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  • ...…of individuals to navigate their way to the psychological, social, cultural, and physical resources that sustain their well being, and their capacity individually and collectively to negotiate for these resources to be provided and experienced in culturally meaningful ways (Ungar, 2008, p. 225)....

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  • ...These studies have sought to account for local discourses that define positive development as a culturally embedded construct and encourage the inclusion of marginalized voices through studies originating in communities not yet well represented in the literature (Ungar, 2004a, 2004b, 2008)....

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  • ...Thus, the benchmarks of resilience are negotiated and culturally determined (Ungar, 2008)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Using this multisystemic social-ecological theory of resilience can inform a deeper understanding of the processes that contribute to positive development under stress and offer practitioners and policy makers a broader perspective on principles for the design and implementation of effective interventions.
Abstract: Background: The development of Bronfenbrenner’s bio-social-ecological systems model of human development parallels advances made to the theory of resilience that progressively moved from a more in ...

553 citations


Cites background from "Resilience across Cultures"

  • ...Ungar (2008, 2011b), for example, challenging definitions of resilience as the capacity of individuals to do well and the ethnocentricism that has informed the choice of outcomes associated with resilience (e.g. staying in school, delaying sexual initiation, maintaining an attachment to a primary…...

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  • ...Published by Blackwell Publishing, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main St, Malden, MA 02148, USA collectively to negotiate for these resources to be provided and experienced in culturally meaningful ways’ (Ungar, 2008, p. 225)....

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  • ...It is the tension between these two positions that research across cultures is exploring (Ungar, 2008; Ungar et al., 2007)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors synthesize knowledge on agency, capacity, and resilience across human development, well-being, and disasters literature to provide insights to support more integrated and human-centered approaches to understand environmental change.
Abstract: Human agency is considered a key factor in determining how individuals and society respond to environmental change. This article synthesizes knowledge on agency, capacity, and resilience across human development, well-being, and disasters literature to provide insights to support more integrated and human-centered approaches to understanding environmental change. It draws out the key areas of agreement across these diverse fields and identifies the main points of contestation and uncertainty. This highlights the need to consider subjective and relational factors in addition to objective measures of capacity and to view these as reflexive and dynamic, as well as differentiated socially and temporally. These findings can help distinguish between coping, adaptation, and transformation as responses to environmental and other stressors.

540 citations

References
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Book
01 Jan 1999
TL;DR: The role of research in Indigenous struggles for social justice is discussed in this paper, where the authors present a personal journey of a Maori Maori researcher to understand the Imperative of an Indigenous Agenda.
Abstract: Foreword Introduction 1. Imperialism, History, Writing and Theory 2. Research through Imperial Eyes 3. Colonizing Knowledges 4. Research Adventures on Indigenous Land 5. Notes from Down Under 6. The Indigenous People's Project: Setting a New Agenda 7. Articulating an Indigenous Research Agenda 8. Twenty-Five Indigenous Projects 9. Responding to the Imperatives of an Indigenous Agenda: A Case Study of Maori 10. Towards Developing Indigenous Methodologies: Kaupapa Maori Research 11. Choosing the Margins: The Role of Research in Indigenous Struggles for Social Justice 12. Getting the Story Right, Telling the Story Well: Indigenous Activism, Indigenous Research Conclusion: A Personal Journey Index

8,710 citations

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

Book
01 Mar 1989

2,357 citations


"Resilience across Cultures" refers background in this paper

  • ...Resilience research involving children, youth and families has sought to explore the health-enhancing capacities, individual, family and community resources, and developmental pathways of vulnerable children and youth (Garmezy, 1976; Rutter, Maughan, Mortimore and Ouston, 1979; Werner and Smith, 1982; Cowen, 1994)....

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  • ...…involving children, youth and families has sought to explore the health-enhancing capacities, individual, family and community resources, and developmental pathways of vulnerable children and youth (Garmezy, 1976; Rutter, Maughan, Mortimore and Ouston, 1979; Werner and Smith, 1982; Cowen, 1994)....

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Book
01 Jan 1979
TL;DR: In this paper, a remarkable account of what goes on in schools, and what the effects are likely to be, is given, which is vital reading for all those professionally involved in teaching.
Abstract: Fifteen Thousand Hours gives a remarkable account of what goes on in schools, and what the effects are likely to be. It is vital reading for all those professionally involved in teaching.

1,954 citations