Steve Pemberton's Resilience Theory

“A child who copes with adversity through the social channel seeks support and control through the structure of his or her relationships. The roles and responsibilities assigned to a child within a social context such as a family or a classroom can increase connections and decrease isolation, as well as restore emotional security and strengthen the child’s sense of well being.”

One must wonder how a person with Steve’s shocking childhood could grow into a man who is successful, not only in his career but in his personal life as well. Resilience theory is a possible explanation as to why Steve survived, despite the odds that were stacked against him. Resilience theory is a strength based approach which provides a framework that focuses on positive outcomes and not just the negative ones. The idea is that it promotes what works best while de-emphasizing psychopathology. Resilience theory defines resilience and possesses several key terms, which include protective/risk factors. Research on resilience has been valuable in directing attention toward youth who succeed in spite of high levels of stress and economic instability, as it identifies factors that can serve as protective functions which foster competence.

In comparison, this viewpoint alternated my opinion as Dante Cicchetti displays “research on the determinants of resilience in maltreated children is presented as an illustration of empirical work that is moving from single-level to multilevel investigations of competent functioning in the face of adversity and trauma”.

Over decades, the research of resilience has developed from understanding individual’s resilience qualities and protective factors, to the process of resilience and the interventions that promote resilience (Richardson, 2002; Wright et al., 2013). Recently, the focus of resilience shift to the neurobiological process because of the development of science and technology (Wright et al., 2013). While these literatures emerging, there are two noteworthy issues. First, the outcome of the studies were mainly emphasized on main-stream population (Ungar, 2006). Second, little attention was given to resilience across cultures (Ungar, 2006; Ungar et al., 2005). Hence, it is important to investigate how resilience is being defined and understand in different cultures; what are the challenges when conducting a cross cultural research; and what are the key elements when implementing intervention in different cultures.

In Chariandy’s (2017) book Brother, the protagonist Michael tells a riveting story of the hardships his friends and family have faced growing up in Scarborough, Ontario. As the story progresses one learns that Michael shows a great deal of resiliency as he continuously faces adversity throughout his life. Michael overcomes many risks as he grows up, and faces many unresolved risks as the story comes to an end. Through comparisons made to Masten (2014) and Maynard’s (2017) books, along with class discussions and infographics, these risks will become increasingly clear. In addition to these risks, it will become clear what interventions were missing and what could have helped to increase the resiliency of Michael, and decreased the amount of

Is resiliency (a variable associated with the self, and one that is expected to have the biggest impact on the maltreatment-school performance link) more readily learned/acquired in the home or school context?

Children are affected by everything around them. They are small sponges waiting to absorb all the information they can. What happens to children when they are faced with traumatic incidences? There are many possible outcomes, but the outcome that is always hoped for is resiliency. When a child cane become resilient to their past, they have a greater likelihood of developing loving relationships later in life.

Adults can help all children become resilient children by just being supportive parents. Parents must develop a caring relationship with the child. Being empathetic by attempting to validate and appreciate the child’s point of view on things. Having effectively communication and being an active listener. Giving the child the opportunity to respond in ways that avoid power struggles by not interrupting the child with how they supposed to feel. Making the child feel appreciated and special. Also, being a positive role model and receiving help from the community. This can also help the child gain their inner strength skills with confidence, critical thinking, self-control, responsibility and the positive outlook on things and participation.

Children in middle childhood can face situation that cause psychological stress on them. However, the child can build up resilience against such stress. A child’s temperament and master-oriented approaches towards situation can help because this allows the child to take a personal initiative to a problem rather than being a victim. The relationship between parent and child can play a factor. If there is a warm, loving relationship vs. a cold, neglecting relationship, the child is more likely to do better in a difficult situation. Another factor to building resilience is having the child have a non-family member adult as a support system. When there is another adult in the picture, the parents and child may feel less stress in a situation if

Educational resilience can be defined as “the heightened likelihood of success in school and other life accomplishments despite environmental adversities brought about by early traits, conditions, and experiences” Wang, Haertel, and Walberg (1994). Studies have shown that there are four attributes or personal characteristics that resilient children have: social competence or responsiveness, problem-solving skills, autonomy, and a sense of purpose. McMillian and Reed (1994) describe four factors that appear to be related to resiliency: individual attributes, positive use of time, family, and school. When comparing 24 resilient and 24 non-resilient students, researchers found no differences between the two groups on socioeconomic status, parent-student involvement, and parental supervision (Waxman, Huang, & Padron, 1997).

David Yeager and Carol Dweck have written an article, Mindsets That Promote Resilience: When Students Believe That Characteristics Can Be Developed, that differs from most because instead of offering tried and true prescriptions for success in education, all they say is needed is a shift in mentality. So, for students that face challenges in school or with others, all they need to know is that people can learn, develop, and grow abilities and behaviors. They say even without knowing how to do those things, just knowing it is possible to change or improve is all that it takes to overcome obstacles. The summarize several studies that prove their theory. When students believe they are “dumb,” they do not believe they can change that and when that

According to Osgood (2014), in order for youth to become resilient they need help building a support system to fall back on, must learn the problem solving skills necessary to live on their

Nearly 600,000 people participated in The Resilience Project, which commenced in 2014 in a search for those who were immune to diseases that should’ve been impossible to be resistant to. In this research, researchers compared the medical records of a participant with their genes and discovered 13 who were fit, despite possessing genes supposed to had killed them or caused

These findings were evident when deprived orphans from Romania were adopted to amorous families living in the United Kingdom. Following the adoption, cognitive and physical growth increased. These children had the ability to continue their growth through wise choices, enhanced education, and take advantages of new opportunities (Alvord & Grados, 2005). Finally, Berger (2008) explains “Adversity must be significant. Some adversities are comparatively minor (large class size, poor vision), and some are major (victimization, neglect). Looking at adversity from a humanistic perspective we need to recognize individual differences, such as culture, gender, and emotional experiences. Keep in mind, resilience is not a personality trait, it is a process.

Gilligan, R. (2000) _Adversity, resilience and young people: the protective value of positive school and spare time experiences, Children and Society_, Vol 14 (1), 37-47