COURSE: PSYC 3003 – COMMUNITY & ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

DATE SUBMITTED: 21ST FEBRUARY, 2014

What is resilience?

Resiliency is catching on, the capability of a strained body to recover its size and shape after deformation caused especially by compressive stress, an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change. Resilience can be defined in many different ways some of which include; * Overcoming adversity; Being at risk, yet successful; A process, not a static variable (Rutter) * A pattern of positive adaptation in the context of past or present adversity (Wright & Masten, 2005). * A set of inner resources, social competencies, and cultural strategies that permit individuals to not only survive, but recover, or even thrive after stressful events, but also to draw from the experience to enhance subsequent functioning (Stanton-Salazar & Spina, 2000). * Resilience in childhood is defined as typical development in the face of adverse circumstances that propel others to deleterious outcomes (Deater-Deckard, Ivy, & Smith, 2005). * Resilience itself could be seen as the process of, capacity for, or outcome of successful adaptation in the face of challenging or threatening circumstances (Veselksa, Geckova, Orosova, Gajdosova, van Dijk, & Reijneveld, 2008).
Psychological resilience is an individual's ability to cope with stress and adversity. This coping can result in the individual "bouncing back" to a previous state of normal functioning, or simply not showing negative effects. (Masten, 2009) Resilience is most commonly understood as a process, and not a trait of an individual. Resilience is best understood as a process. It is often mistakenly assumed to be a trait of the individual, an idea more typically referred to as "resiliency." Most research now shows that resilience is the result of individuals being able to interact with their environments and the processes that either promote well-being or protect them against the overwhelming influence of risk factors. These processes can be individual coping strategies, or may be helped along by good families, schools, communities, and social policies that make resilience more likely to occur. In this sense "resilience" occurs when there are cumulative "protective factors". These factors are likely to play a more and more important role the greater the individual’s exposure to cumulative "risk factors".
Describe its (resilience) process in dealing with the stressors in life?
As defined before resilience is a pattern of positive adaptation in the context of past or present adversity. (Wright & Masten, 2005) Using resilience to deal with stressors in life involves analysing a method of different approaches and selecting one that best fits the situation. For example there is emotional resilience, spiritual resilience, psychological resilience, cognitive and physical resilience. Resilience helps community psychologists to; understand stress and related processes, devise useful interventions and inform prevention efforts.
Communities play a huge role in fostering resilience. According to Benard (1991) there are three characteristics of those types of communities:
1. Communities where the availability of social organizations that offers an array of resources to members of the community.
2. Communities where there is a steady expression of social norms so that community members comprehend what constitutes desirable behaviour.
3. Communities which offer opportunities for children and teens to partake in the life of the community as appreciated members. The clearest sign of a cohesive and supportive community is the presence of social organizations that provide healthy human development. (Garmezy, 1991) What is the importance of the fourth wave of resilience work?
There are four waves of Resilience Research;
Wave 1 - The study of the development of psychopathology
Wave 2 - The study of the development of resiliency
Wave 3 - The study of various intervention attempts
Wave 4 - The study of the interdependent factors at multiple levels which are a part of resiliency (Ex. genetics, biology, environmental events)
The fourth wave in resilience research is important because it is focused on multilevel dynamics and the many processes that link genes, neurobiological adaptation, behaviour, brain development, and context at numerous levels. It is established on the notion that development arises from probabilistic epigenesis (the probable developing factors on an organism and how they not only influence the organism and each other but also how the organism also influences its own development), involving many processes of interaction with gene–environment interplay and co-action playing key roles (Gottlieb, 2007) as well as explicit recognition that adaptation is inherently multilevel. (Masten, 2007) According to Charney (2004) the fourth wave in resilience research is important because it began to rise as new approaches for research became more extensively available to examine these processes, including the assessment of brain structure and function, social interaction, genes, gene expression, and statistics for modelling growth, change, and interactions in complex systems.
Conclusively research on resilience have shed much light on fundamental adaptive systems supporting human development as well as on identifying complex, multisystemic interactions that could shape both pathological and positive results following adversity. A strong knowledge base has accumulated on the methods implicated in resilience, predominantly on factors that intensify vulnerability and those that can afford protection. However, much remains to be completed, and as evident in the rising of the fourth wave of resilience research, there is much uncharted territory.

Bibliography

Benard, B. (1991) Fostering resiliency in kids: Protective factors in the family, school and community. Portland, OR: Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory
Charney, D. (2004). Psychobiological mechanisms of resilience and vulnerability: implications for successful adaptation to extreme stress. American Journal of Psychiatry, 161 , 195–216.
Deater-Deckard, K., Ivy, L., Smith, J. (2006). Resilience in gene-environment transactions. In S. Goldstein and R. Brooks (eds), Handbook of Resilience in Children. New York: Springer Garmezy, N. (1991). Resiliency and vulnerability to adverse developmental outcomes associated with poverty. American Behavioral Scientist 34 (4): 416–430. doi:10.1177/0002764291034004003 .
Gottlieb, G. (2007). Probabilistic epigenetics. Developmental Science, 10 , 1–11.
Masten, A. S. (2007). Resilience in developing systems: Progress and promise as the fourth wave rises. Development and Psychopathology, 19 , 921–930.
Stanton-Salazar, R.D., & Spina, S. U. (2000). The network orientation of highly resilient urban minority youth: A Network-analytic account of minority socialization and its educational implications. Urban Review, 32 (3), 227-261

Veselska Z., Geckova, A. M., Orosova, O., Gajdosova, B., van Dijk, J., P., & Reijneveld, S., A. (2008). Self-esteem and resilience: the connection with risky behavior among adolescents. Addictive Behaviors, 34, (3), 287-291. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeb.2008.11.005 Wright, M. O., & Masten, A. S. (2005). Resilience processes in development: Fostering positive adaptation in the context of adversity. In S. Goldstein & R.B. Brooks (Eds.), Handbook of resilience in children (pp. 17-37). New York: Springer.