Resilience

Type of paper Essay (Any Type)

Subject Psychology

Number of pages 3

Format of citation APA

Number of cited resources 4

Type of service Writing

This is a short essay where you need 4 paragraphs and you present a convincing argument Paragraph 1 is your opening. You present the basic question (DO NOT QUOTE THE QUESTION WE GIVE YOU) and inform the reader what your position will be and how you will construct your argument (with evidence of course) to convince the reader your position is right. It should be about 100 words The BODY Paragraph 2 is where you present your 1st type of evidence. Ideally you present the same KIND of evidence from a couple of different studies/sources that help you make your case. It should be about 300 words Paragraph 3 is where you present a 2nd type of evidence. Ideally you present the same KIND of evidence from a couple of different studies that help you make your case and add to what you presented in the previous paragraph by coming at it from a bit of a different direction. So the supporting evidence here should be distinctly different from your previous evidence paragraph. It should be about 300 words Paragraph 4 is your Conclusion. This is where you outline what your position was, how you presented convincing evidence and this leads you to make a strong conclusion about the topic. It should be about 100 words References: you MUST use APA format which means proper in text citations and a section at the end of the paper called References where you provide the full details of the cited sources in APA format. Your Burton writing guide in very valuable for this as a guide to referencing in APA but the web has many good sources on it. Your References section is NOT included in the word count. but everything above it IS included (including in text citations, the title, etc.) YOUR TASK: There are lots of different types of essay. In Psyc 1010 we ask students to write an “Argument” essay where you must try to disprove some statement or position. We do this because in SCIENCE we always try to disprove a theory which is much easier than trying to PROVE a theory (which usually takes hundreds of years). To DISPROVE a theory, all you have to do is find evidence against it. It helps if you find more than a single bit of evidence though. So what do you have to disprove? Disprove this statement “Human Resilience is mostly determined by NATURE. That is, it is based on Genetic factors such as intelligence and personality (temperament). So people cannot LEARN to be resilient” This essay topic relates to almost all areas of Psyc 1010 but specifically to the developmental and individual differences parts and of course we had a lab on resilience. To answer the question you need to disprove the statement using good academic research sources. You can disprove the statement by either disproving the 1st part of the statement (Resilience is determined by Nature (ie genetics)) OR you can disprove the 2nd part (Resilience can’t be learned).
Enhancing Resilience in Children: A Proactive Approach

Mary Karapetian Alvord and Judy Johnson Grados Alvord, Baker & Associates, LLC

Many clinical practitioners today are interested in helping children be more resilient. The authors briefly review the literature and identify protective factors that are related to or foster resilience in children. After discussing individual and family intervention strategies currently in use, the authors present a practical, proactive, resilience-based model that clinicians may use in a group intervention setting. The model entails interactive identification of protective factors with children, free play and behavioral rehearsal, training in relaxation and self-control techniques, practice in generalizing skills acquired, and active parent involvement. Implications of this group intervention model are discussed.

Keywords: resilience, children, social skills, groups, cognitive–behavioral therapy

Vala is a 16-year-old Russian girl who first came to our practice at age 6. Neglected as a child, separated from her younger sister, and taken to an orphanage following her mother’s suicide, she was adopted by an American family and came to this country. The tribulations she experienced were extreme. However, because of her intelligence, easygoing temperament, and other personal strengths, as well as loving support of family and friends and a positive school environment, she is functioning well today and appears to be successful and happy.

Many children encounter fewer and less severe traumatic expe- riences than did Vala. Yet they do experience the inevitable stresses and adversities in life that may challenge their healthy development and successful functioning. In the past three decades, a group of children have been identified in the research who appear to have fared well despite exposure to severe adversity. These children, who have been referred to as stress-resistant, invulner- able, and, more recently, resilient, were found to possess certain strengths and to have benefited from protective influences that helped them to overcome adverse conditions and to thrive. As practitioners, we must understand what environmental factors place children at risk and what protective factors may be fostered to enhance and strengthen resilience in children.

In this article we define resilience and provide an overview of the literature and recent advances that are guiding work in the field today. We then define and discuss protective factors linked with the resilience process. Finally, we offer clinical implications for individual, family, and group therapy with children.

Definitions of Resilience

The term resilience has been defined in many ways. Masten, Best, and Garmezy’s (1990) definition of resilience as “the process of, capacity for, or outcome of successful adaptation despite chal- lenging or threatening circumstances” (p. 426) is one of the more familiar and widely accepted in the field. Many definitions of resilience require specification of an identified risk or challenge to which an individual is subjected, followed by some defined mea- sure of positive outcome. However, controversy remains regarding what constitutes resilient behavior and how to best measure suc- cessful adaptation to adversity. Some have suggested that a resil- ient person must show positive outcomes across several aspects of his life over periods of time (Cicchetti & Rogosch, 1997). Further, resilience is not a one-dimensional, dichotomous attribute that persons either have or do not have (Reivich & Shatté, 2003). Rather, resilience implies the possession of multiple skills, in varying degrees, that help individuals to cope.

For the purpose of this article, we define resilience broadly as those skills, attributes, and abilities that enable individuals to adapt to hardships, difficulties, and challenges. Although some attributes are biologically determined, we believe resilience skills can be strengthened as well as learned.

Early Studies in Resilience

Early clinical case descriptions spawned an interest in determin- ing why some children manage to cope with adversity whereas others succumb. One such case of a 14-year-old Swiss girl was described by Bleuler (1984; as cited in Anthony, 1987a). “Vreni,” in the absence of her mother (who was hospitalized with mental illness), raised her siblings, cared for her alcoholic and physically compromised father, and later reported having a happy marriage and contented life. Anthony’s description of “invulnerable” chil- dren (Anthony, 1987b) and Murphy and Moriarty’s “good copers”

MARY KARAPETIAN ALVORD received her PhD from the University of Maryland in 1977. She is currently the director of the Group Therapy Center at Alvord, Baker & Associates, LLC, an independent therapy practice in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area. Her interests are focused on resilience and social skill development of children and adoles- cents. JUDY JOHNSON GRADOS received her PsyD from Indiana State University in 1995. She currently practices with Alvord, Baker & Associates, LLC. Her research interests include social skills training for children and resilience in children and adolescents. WE GRATEFULLY ACKNOWLEDGE Dr. W. Gregory Alvord, Dr. Patricia K. S. Baker, and Ms. Anne McGrath for their support and editorial comments. We also thank Mrs. Maria Manolatos for assistance in the preparation of the manuscript. CORRESPONDENCE CONCERNING THIS ARTICLE should be addressed to Mary Karapetian Alvord, Alvord, Baker & Associates, LLC, 11161 New Hamp- shire Avenue, Suite 307, Silver Spring, MD 20904. E-mail: MAlvord@alvordbaker.com

Professional Psychology: Research and Practice Copyright 2005 by the American Psychological Association 2005, Vol. 36, No. 3, 238–245 0735-7028/05/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/0735-7028.36.3.238

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(Murphy & Moriarty, 1976) sparked early interest as well. Rutter’s Isle of Wight studies (Rutter, Tizard, Yule, Graham, & Whitmore, 1976), large-scale longitudinal undertakings such as Project Com- petence (Garmezy, Masten, & Tellegen, 1984; Masten, 2000), and Werner’s now four-decade-long study of high-risk infants born into poverty on the Hawaiian island of Kauai (Werner, 1993; Werner & Smith, 2001) have helped to lay the groundwork for what we know today.

Recent Advances

The emerging research in the area of resilience encompasses many areas. These include investigations of children from various cultures (Grotberg, 1995; Hart, Hofmann, Edelstein, & Keller, 1997), studies of the influences of biological mechanisms (Curtis & Cicchetti, 2003; Rutter, 2002), new…