Lakhasly

n the 1980s, developmental psychopathologists coined thertesrimlienceto refer to the dynamic process observed in children and adolescents who achieve successful adaptation in the context of adversity. The emergence of the concept of resilience is associated with Norman Garmezy’s studies of schizophrenia and Emmy Werner’s pioneering longitudinal study of the children of Kauai, Hawaii (Masten & Powell, 2003). Garmezy’s interest in understanding the etiology of schizophrenia led him and his team to focus on the children of mentally ill parents, who were at high risk for psychopathology. Motivated by the observation that many children developed well despite being raised by schizophrenic mothers, Garmezy’s team changed their focus from studying risk to examining competence among children who experienced adversity because of parental mental illness, poverty, and other stressful life events (Garmezy & Tellegen, 1984). Werner and Smith’s (2001) naturalistic study of the long-term developmental trajectory of a cohort of children born in 1955 on the island of Kauai is considered the
rst systematic investigation of risk and resilience (Masten & Powell, 2003).
The groundbreaking work of these and other resilience researchers (e.g., Anthony, 1974; Rutter, 1987)
brought attention to the strengths of children and adolescents in at-risk groups who, up to that point, were primarily thought of in terms of their de cits and problems in development. These researchers reasoned that an understanding of the process of adaptation that allows some individuals to overcome adversity or traumatic experiences could help guide prevention and intervention efforts with others facing similar circumstances (Masten, 1994). Because it emphasizes strengths rather than de cits, the resilience model is consistent with counseling psychology’s traditional philosophical stance and professional emphasis.
Since its inception as a specialty, counseling psychology has emphasized the study of normative pro- cesses of development and the facilitative personal and environmental conditions that lead to adaptive outcomes (Gelso & Fretz, 2001). In recent years, the eld of psychology has recognized the impor- tance of paradigms that focus on positive aspects of human functioning (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). Counseling psychologists have actively participated in the rediscovery of positive psychology, proposing theoretical, empirical, and clinical perspectives that emphasize well-being, optimal devel- opment, and strength-based approaches to counseling (e.g., Lent, 2004; Smith, 2006). The resilience paradigm provides an integrative framework for understanding the role of risk and protective factors in development that is consistent with counseling psychology’s commitment to positive development, mul- ticultural psychology, and the understanding of human functioning in the context of person-environment transactions. Therefore, this chapter provides an overview of the risk and resilience model, as developed and implemented by developmental psychologists, with a focus on how this model may be applied to research in counseling psychology.
In its relatively short history, the resilience paradigm has yielded valuable ndings for furthering developmental theory and suggesting interventions to help those at risk. However, this approach has been criticized primarily because of variability in the de nition and measurement of key constructs such as resilience, risk, protective and vulnerability factors, competence, and positive adaptation (e.g., Kaplan, 1999; Tolan, 1996). In the rst section of the chapter, we provide an overview of the guidelines offered