Resilience in Development: The Importance of Early Childhood

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1
EncyclopediaonEarlyChildhoodDevelopment
©2006CentreofExcellenceforEarlyChildhoodDevelopment
MastenAS,GewirtzAH
Resilience in Development: The Importance of Early Childhood
ANN S. MASTEN, PhD
ABIGAIL H. GEWIRTZ, PhD
University of Minnesota, USA
(Published online March 15, 2006)
Topic
Resilience
Introduction
Resilience, from the Latin resilire (to recoil or leap back), is a general concept related to positive
adaptation in the context of challenge. In the physical sciences and engineering, resilience typically
refers to the capacity to withstand stress or strain without breaking, or to recover original form, like a
spring or rubber band. In the science of human development, resilience has broad and diverse
meanings, including recovery from traumatic experiences, overcoming disadvantage to succeed in
life, and withstanding stress to function well in the tasks of life.
1,2 Essentially, resilience refers to
patterns of positive adaptation or development manifested in the context of adverse experiences.
While people have been fascinated with stories of resilience for thousands of years, judging from the
many ancient tales of individuals who triumph over adversity, the scientific study of resilience only
began in the 1960s and 1970s.
2,3-5 Nonetheless, great strides have been made in the first four decades
of research and it is clear that early childhood is an important window of time for understanding and
promoting resilience.
2 During these years, the roots of competence are established and many of the
most important protective systems for human development emerge. Some children develop resilience
through natural processes, while other children need help. These early years hold great promise for
interventions to prevent and reduce risk, boost resources, promote competence and build a strong
foundation for future development.
Subject
Understanding naturally occurring resilience provides important clues for policies and practices
designed to promote healthier development in children threatened by adversity or disadvantage. It is
also necessary to learn how to foster positive change, so that the odds for favourable development
can be improved. Prevention and intervention studies are required to test the ideas coming from
resilience research, to learn the best goals, methods and developmental timing for interventions, and
also to learn which approaches work best for whom.

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EncyclopediaonEarlyChildhoodDevelopment
©2006CentreofExcellenceforEarlyChildhoodDevelopment
MastenAS,GewirtzAH
Problems
To study resilience, one must define and operationalize it. This has proven to be challenging for
several key reasons. First, resilience refers to a variety of phenomena, such as recovery after the loss
of a parent, normalization of behaviour after a child is adopted from an institution, school success
among children growing up in poverty or dangerous neighbourhoods, and mental health in children
of mentally ill parents.
1,3 Second, resilience is an inferential construct that involves human judgments
about desirable and undesirable outcomes as well as definitions of threat or risk.
3,4,8,13 Investigators
must define the criteria for “doing OK in life” and also the standards and measures of adversity or
risk confronting the child.
8 A child who develops well may be viewed as adaptive or competent, but
not necessarily as manifesting resilience, unless some explicit or implicit threshold of risk or
adversity has been met. It is also clear that there are multiple criteria by which to judge success in
life; adaptation (good or bad) is inherently multidimensional and multifaceted in nature. Thus, it is
not surprising that definitions and measures have varied, greatly complicating comparisons across
studies and the task of building a coherent body of knowledge about resilience in development.
Third, many processes at multiple levels of analysis are likely to be involved in human resilience.
5,14
To understand resilience, one must understand the complex adaptation and development of living
systems in context over time, from “neurons to neighbourhoods”
15 and beyond. Nonetheless, findings
from the first generation of resilience research were remarkably consistent, suggesting the influence
of powerful but common adaptive processes.
8
Research Context
Systematic research on resilience in childhood emerged from studies of vulnerability and risk in the
search for the causes of mental illness.
1,11,16 Investigators began to study children with elevated risk
for problems, often due to mental illness or stress in the family, or social disadvantages and poverty.
The goals of pioneering researchers, including Norman Garmezy, Lois Murphy, Michael Rutter,
Arnold Sameroff, and Emmy Werner, required integrative perspectives and collaboration among
developmental and clinical scientists. Such collaborations forged a new science of resilience in
development, while at the same time energizing the rise of developmental psychopathology.
5, 8, 17 The
great insight of these pioneers was recognizing the potential of resilience research to inform practice
and policies aimed at better development among high-risk children.
Key Research Questions
Developmental studies of resilience often address the following questions:
● What accounts for positive development or recovery among children who experience hazardous
circumstances?
● What are the naturally occurring protective processes for human development?
● What are the most effective intervention strategies for fostering positive development among
children with high potential risk for problems?

3
EncyclopediaonEarlyChildhoodDevelopment
©2006CentreofExcellenceforEarlyChildhoodDevelopment
MastenAS,GewirtzAH
Although resilience researchers focus on positive outcomes and their causes, they also acknowledge
the importance of understanding risks and threats to development and how to reduce or eliminate
them.
Recent Research Results
There is exciting convergence in developmental research on competence, resilience, behavioural and
emotional problems, brain development and prevention science, all underscoring the importance of
early childhood for building protections into human development at multiple levels, within the child,
the family, the community and their interactions.
2,10,15,18 Problems in learning and self-control often
begin in the preschool years and are related to the quality of available parenting.
10,19-21 Effective
preventive intervention programs during infancy and preschool years support parenting in multiple
ways and provide enriched learning environments for children.
2 Early success in school – related to
effective care, positive home-school connections and effective classroom practices – appears to be a
key segue to resilience, particularly for very disadvantaged children.
2 Systems of care that focus on
building competence and strengths in young children and their families, along with reducing risk and
addressing problems early, are yielding promising successes.
9,12,15,18
A neurobiology of resilience is also beginning to emerge.14,22 New insights into brain development
and plasticity, how stress interacts with development, and the interplay of genes and experience in
shaping development promise to revolutionize the science of resilience and prevention.
Conclusion
Resilience research indicates that during the early childhood years, it is important for children to
have good quality of care and opportunities for learning, adequate nutrition and community support
for families, to facilitate positive development of cognitive, social and self-regulation skills. Young
children with healthy attachment relationships and good internal adaptive resources are very likely to
get off to a good start in life, well equipped with the human and social capital for success as they
enter school and society. Such children typically manifest resilience in the face of adversity, as long
as their fundamental protective skills and relationships continue to operate and develop. The greatest
threats to young children occur when key protective systems for human development are harmed or
disrupted. In early childhood, it is particularly important that children have the protections afforded
by attachment bonds with competent and loving caregivers, the stimulation and nutrition required for
healthy brain development, opportunities to learn and experience the pleasure of mastering new
skills, and the limit-setting or structure needed to develop self-control.
Implications
Resilience research, studies of normal development and psychopathology and prevention science all
highlight the importance of early childhood for establishing fundamental protections afforded
children by positive relationships, healthy brain development, good self-regulation skills, community
supports for families and learning opportunities. A resilience framework for systems of care has
emerged, with an emphasis on building

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EncyclopediaonEarlyChildhoodDevelopment
©2006CentreofExcellenceforEarlyChildhoodDevelopment
MastenAS,GewirtzAH
strengths and competence in children, their families, their relationships and the communities where
they live.
9,11 It is clear that many children in modern societies face multiple and accumulating risks
that require multiple protective interventions and comprehensive efforts to prevent or ameliorate risk
for children and their families. No child is invulnerable and, as risk levels rise, fewer children escape
the developmental consequences of adversity. Early childhood is a crucial window of opportunity for
families and societies to ensure that children have the resources and protections required to
developthe adaptive tools and relationships they will need to engage the future well prepared.

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EncyclopediaonEarlyChildhoodDevelopment
©2006CentreofExcellenceforEarlyChildhoodDevelopment
MastenAS,GewirtzAH
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EncyclopediaonEarlyChildhoodDevelopment
©2006CentreofExcellenceforEarlyChildhoodDevelopment
MastenAS,GewirtzAH
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To cite this document:
Masten AS, Gewirtz AH. Resilience in development: The importance of early childhood. In: Tremblay RE, Barr RG, Peters
RDeV, eds. Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development [online]. Montreal, Quebec: Centre of Excellence for Early
Childhood Development; 2006:1-6. Available at: http://www.child-encyclopedia.com/documents/Masten-GewirtzANGxp.pdf
.
Accessed [insert date].
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