Resilience in Children, Adolescents, and Adults: Translating Research into Practice

356 Pages·2013·3.5 MB·English

by  Sandra Prince-Embury Ph.D.

The Springer Series on Human
Exceptionality
Series Editors
Donald H. Saklofske, Ph.D.
Department of Psychology
Western University, Canada
Moshe Zeidner, Ph.D.
Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Emotions
Department of Human Development and Counseling
Haifa University, Israel
For further volumes:
http://www.springer.com/series/6450

Sandra Prince-Embury
Donald H. Saklofske
Editors
Resilience in Children,
Adolescents, and Adults
Translating Research into Practice
Editors
Sandra Prince-Embury Donald H. Saklofske
Resiliency Institute of Allenhurst, LLC. Department of Psychology
W. Allenhurst, NJ, USA The University of Western Ontario
London, ON, Canada
ISSN 1572-5642
ISBN 978-1-4614-4938-6 ISBN 978-1-4614-4939-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4614-4939-3
Springer New York Heidelberg Dordrecht London
Library of Congress Control Number: 2012950029
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My mother, Katherine Lardner, and father, Matthew Prince,
both resourceful individuals who weathered much
adversity; my grandmothers, Marie Brannigan and Olga
Frankel, who migrated to the United States alone as
teenagers and reared families with very few resources;
my husband Dennis, whose kind heart and humorous spirit
have provided inspiration and support; and my clients who
have shared their life stories of resiliency with me over
the years.
Sandra Prince-Embury
My beautiful mother, Frances Annette, who passed away
on October 30, 2011, and my devoted father, Harold.
Donald H. Saklofske

Preface
The study of resilience or the ability to “stay the course” or “bounce back” in
the face of adversity has been a topic of investigation by developmental theo-
rists for the past 50 years. Earlier researchers had observed that some persons,
whether children or adults, managed to survive exposure to adversity and
even thrive in later life while others succumbed to psychological disorders
and physical illness that could either be acute or longer term. This observa-
tion has been repeated numerous times under conditions ranging from large
natural disasters and war to the loss of a parent or child. The human result can
also vary from the manifestation of increased capacity and will to “live and
learn” or to anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, and suicide.
The study of resilience has gone through many rich phases of discovery,
identifying aspects of both the person and environment that appeared to serve
as protective or mitigating variables to the impact of adversity. Several out-
standing researchers and theorists have attempted to integrate the many
research fi ndings and their implications for practical application. However,
the understanding that resilience is a product of complex interactions of per-
sonal attributes and environmental circumstances, mediated by internal
mechanisms, has presented an assessment challenge to developmental
researchers (Luthar, Cicchetti, and Becker, 2000).
On the other hand, the past few years have been witness to a plethora of self-
help books and interventions that have not been systematically linked to sound
core developmental constructs nor empirically tested for effectiveness. Some
interventions that are found to be effective are explained on the basis that they
increase resiliency while this implied mediating process is not documented.
Thus there is a disconnect between the complex theory and body of research on
resiliency and the abundant self-help products employing this term.
There is a need in the study of resiliency for construct clari fi cation and
research grounded translation for practical application. Furthermore, links
between constructs, assessments, interventions, and outcomes need to be
made more transparent and hence more easily understood and applied.
In particular, this volume presents a thorough discussion of the tools and
techniques developed by leading experts for assessing resilience along with
evidence for their psychometric rigor and practical application. Eleven of the
twenty-one chapters link underlying de fi nitions of resilience with assessment
and application using well-known tools for assessing resilience. Embedded in
the “science of test development” is the rigor of construct identi fi cation, oper-
ational de fi nition of the construct, and psychometric analysis to determine the
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reliability, validity, and potential usefulness of the respective assessment.
In this way, examination of carefully designed assessment tools allows
comparison of different de fi nitions of resilience.
This volume is divided into four parts which combine speci fi c de fi nitions
and assessments with broad brushstrokes of application: Introduction and
Conceptual Issues; Resilience and Children; Resilience, Youth, and Adults;
and Resilience, Cultural, and Systemic Considerations. One intention of this
volume is to present a diversity of speci fi c de fi nitions of resilience to the
reader for the purpose of informed application with children, adolescents, and
adults in ways that are theoretically sound, empirically supported, practical,
and need speci fi c. A second intention of this volume is to present a few
broader contexts in which the resilience construct may be meaningfully
understood and integrated in diverse human contexts.
We begin this book with an acknowledgement of the authors of the chapters
to follow. The knowledge and expertise they bring to the study of resilience
and their capacity to write informed, critical, and readable chapters have more
than accomplished the task we set out when beginning this book. We also are
grateful to Judy Jones and Garth Haller who provided the editorial support
needed to bring this book to completion. We thank them and Springer.
W. Allenhurst, NJ, USA Sandra Prince-Embury
London, ON, Canada Donald H. Saklofske
About the Editors
Sandra Prince-Embury, Ph.D., is a licensed clinical psychologist and
family therapist serving children, adolescents, and families for 30 years.
In addition to clinical work, Dr. Prince-Embury taught at Pennsylvania State
University and engaged in research on community response to technical
disaster. Her work with residents of the Three Mile Island community is
housed at the Dickenson College Archives in PA. Currently director of the
Resiliency Institute of Allenhurst, LLC, she is engaged in research, writing,
and consultation associated with her recently authored Resiliency Scales for
Children and Adolescents (RSCA).
Donald H. Saklofske, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Department of Psychology,
The University of Western Ontario, Canada. His main research interests
include intelligence, personality, and individual differences. He is a Fellow of
the Canadian Psychological Association and the Association for Psychological
Science.
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