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ChildhoodResilience:AReviewofLiteraturewithImplicationsforEducationinaMulticulturalEra
HistoricalContext
Thescientificinteresttounderstandtheindividualvariationsinpositiveadap-
tationinthefaceofadversityisseentooriginatefromtheempiricallitera-
tureonschizophrenia(Mastenetal.,1990).Inthe1970s,studiesthatinvesti-
gatedprimarilythemaladaptivebehaviouramongseverelydisorderedpatients
(Garmezy,1970;Zigler&Glick,1986),tracedsomeadaptivepatternsofthose
withtheleastseverecoursesofillnessthatindicatedarelativesocialcompe-
tenceandcapacitytofulfilresponsibility.Althoughnotdescribedasresilience
atthattime,“theseaspectsofpremorbidsocialcompetencemightbeviewed
todayasprognosticsofrelativelyresilienttrajectories”(inLuthar,Cicchetti&
Becker,2000,p.544).
NormanGarmezy,theeminentclinicalpsychologist,isconsideredasone
oftheresiliencetheorypioneers2.Hewasaresearcherintheareaofschizo-
phreniaandplayedamajorroleinresearchonthestudyofindividuals,espe-
ciallychildrenwhowereatriskofthesubsequentdevelopmentofpsycho-
pathologyanddevelopmentalproblems,includingschizophrenia.Thisbody
ofstudiesonchildrenofschizophrenicmothersisconsideredthegenesisof
childhoodresilience(Luthar,Cicchetti&Becker,2000).Widelycreditedwith
beingthefirsttostudytheconceptinanexperimentalsetting,Garmezystud-
iedhowadversityinlifeaffectsmentalillnessandthisinterestinstudying
illnessstatesledhimtoinvestigatewhysomechildrengeneticallyathigh-
riskstatusfordevelopingmentalillness,whoexperiencestressandadversity
flourishinlife,whileothersinthesamecircumstanceslanguish;thestudyof
resilience.
Themostfrequentdocumentationof“resilience”referstotheabilityofan
individualtobouncebacksuccessfullydespiteexperiencingacombination
ofunfavourablefactorsand“hasclearlyestablishedtheself-rightingnature
ofhumandevelopment”(Benard,1993,p.44).Oneoftheearliestandlargest
interdisciplinarystudiesonriskfactorsandtherootsofresiliencyinvulnera-
blechildrenisEmmyWerner’son-going,38-yearstudyofamultiracialcohort
of698infantsbornin1955ontheislandofKauai,Hawaii(Werner&Smith,
2OneofGarmezy’smajorcontributionintheareaofpsychologyisthecombinationofclinical
psychology,childdevelopment,andbehaviourgeneticswhichresultedintheemergenceofbothresil-
iencescienceanddevelopmentalpsychopathology(Masten&Cicchetti,2012).
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