Ordinary Magic Resilience in Development

From a pioneering researcher, this book synthesizes the best current knowledge on resilience in children and adolescents. Ann S. Masten explores what allows certain individuals to thrive and adapt despite adverse circumstances, such as poverty, chronic family problems, or exposure to trauma. Coverage encompasses the neurobiology of resilience as well as the role of major contexts of development: families, schools, and culture. Identifying key protective factors in early childhood and beyond, Masten provides a cogent framework for designing programs to promote resilience. Complex concepts are carefully defined and illustrated with real-world examples.

Ann S. Masten, PhD, is the Irving B. Harris Professor of Child Development and Distinguished McKnight University Professor in the Institute of Child Development at the University of Minnesota. With over 150 publications, Dr. Masten is an internationally known expert on resilience in human development. She serves as a member of the Board on Children, Youth, and Families of the Institute of Medicine and National Research Council of the National Academies and is past president of the Society for Research in Child Development. A Fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA) and of the Association for Psychological Science, she is a recipient of the Urie Bronfenbrenner Award for Lifetime Contributions to Developmental Psychology in the Service of Science and Society from the APA.

I. Introduction and Conceptual Overview
1. Introduction
2. Models of Resilience
II. Studies of Individual Resilience
3. Resilience in a Community Sample: The Project Competence Longitudinal Study
4. Overcoming Disadvantage and Economic Crisis: Homeless Children
5. Mass Trauma and Extreme Adversities: Resilience in War, Terrorism, and Disaster
III. Adaptive Systems in Resilience
6. The Short List and Implicated Protective Systems
7. The Neurobiology of Resilience
8. Resilience in the Context of Families
9. Resilience in the Context of Schools
10. Resilience in the Context of Culture
IV. Moving Forward: Implications for Action and Future Research
11. A Resilience Framework for Action
12. Conclusions and Future Directions
Appendix A. Glossary
Appendix B. Abbreviations
Appendix C. Recommended Readings by Topic