Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

The Social Ecology of Resilience pp 143–156Cite as

Temporal and Contextual Dimensions to Individual Positive Development: A Developmental–Contextual Systems Model of Resilience

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

Abstract

The author introduces a developmental–contextual model of resilience that takes into account developmental and contextual influences on individuals’ manifest adaptation under adversity. Building on her research reviewing historical cohort data sets in Britain, the author describes multiple contextual factors and their influence on individual functioning over the life course. Her work shows that early experiences in childhood do not necessarily predict negative development later and that assumptions of developmental constancy are overstated.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   109.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  • Anthony, E. J. (1987). Risk, vulnerability, and resilience: An overview. In E. J. Anthony & B. J. Cohler (Eds.), The invulnerable child (pp. 3–48). New York, NY: Guilford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Antonovsky, A. (1979). Health, stress and coping (1st ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Antonovsky, A. (1987). Unravelling the mystery of health: How people manage stress and stay well (1st ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baltes, P. B. (1987). Theoretical propositions of life-span developmental-psychology – On the dynamics between growth and decline. Developmental Psychology, 23(5), 611–626.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Belsky, J., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., & Ijzendoorn, M. H. (2007). For better and for worse. Differential susceptibility to environmental influences. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 16, 300–304.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brim, O. G., Jr., & Kagan, J. (1980). Constancy and change: A view of the issues. In O. G. Brim, Jr. & J. Kagan (Eds.), Constancy and change in human development (pp. 1–25). Cambridge, MA Harvard University Press.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bronfenbrenner, U. (1986). Ecology of the family as a context for human development: Research perspectives. Developmental Psychology, 22, 723–742.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bronfenbrenner, U. (1989). Ecological systems theory. In R. Vasta (Ed.), Six theories of child development: Revised formulations and current issues (pp. 187–250). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bronfenbrenner, U., & Ceci, S. J. (1994). Nature-nurture reconceptualized in developmental perspective – A bioecological model. Psychological Review, 101(4), 568–586.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caspi, A., McClay, J., Moffitt, T. E., Mill, J., Martin, J., Craig, I. W., et al. (2002). Role of genotype in the cycle of violence in maltreated children. Science, 297(5582), 851–854.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cicchetti, D., & Garmezy, N. (1993). Prospects and promises in the study of resilience. Development and Psychopathology, 5, 497–502.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cicchetti, D., & Rogosch, F. A. (1996). Equifinality and multifinality in developmental psychopathology. Development and Psychopathology, 8(4), 597–600.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cicchetti, D., Rogosch, F. A., Lynch, M., & Holt, K. D. (1993). Resilience in maltreated children – Processes leading to adaptive outcome. Development and Psychopathology, 5(4), 629–647.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cicchetti, D., & Toth, S. L. (2009). The past achievements and future promises of developmental psychopathology: The coming of age of a discipline. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 50(1–2), 16–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clarke, A. M., & Clarke, A. D. B. (Eds.). (1976). Early experience: Myth and evidence. London, UK: Open Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clarke, A. M., & Clarke, A. D. B. (2003). Human resilience: A fifty year quest. London, UK: Jessica Kingsley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clarke, A. M., & Clarke, A. D. B. (2000). Early experience and the life path. London, UK: Jessica Kingsley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coie, J. D., Watt, N. F., West, S. G., Hawkins, J. D., Asarnow, J. R., Markman, H. J., et al. (1993). The ­science of prevention. A conceptual framework and some directions for a national research-program. The American Psychologist, 48(10), 1013–1022.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Conger, R. D., Conger, K. J., Elder, G. H., Lorenz, F. O., Simons, R. L., & Whitbeck, L. B. (1993). Family economic stress and adjustment of early adolescent girls. Developmental Psychology, 29, 206–219.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cowen, E. L., Wyman, P. A., Work, W. C., Kim, J. Y., Fagen, D. B., & Magnus, K. B. (1997). Follow-up study of young stress-affected and stress-resilient urban children. Development and Psychopathology, 9(3), 565–577.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Egeland, B., Carlson, E., & Sroufe, L. A. (1993). Resilience as process. Development and Psychopathology, 5(4), 517–528.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elder, G. H. (1974/1999). Children of the great depression: Social change in life experience. Bolder, CO: Westview Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elder, G. H. (1994). Time, human agency, and social change: Perspectives on the life course. Social Psychology Quarterly, 57, 4–15.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elder, G. H. (1998). The life course as developmental theory. Child Development, 69(1), 1–12.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elder, G. H., & Caspi, A. (1988). Human development and social change: An emerging perspective on the life course. In N. Bolger, A. Caspi, G. Downey, & M. Moorehouse (Eds.), Persons in context: Developmental processes (pp. 77–113). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Erikson, E. H. (1959). Identity and the life cycle: Selected papers. New York, NY: International Universities Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frankl, V. (1946/1984). Man’s search for meaning. New York, NY: Washington Square Press. (Original work published 1946).

    Google Scholar 

  • Garmezy, N. (1974). The study of competence in children at risk for severe psychopathology. In E. J. Anthony & C. Koupernik (Eds.), The child in his family: Children at psychiatric risk (Vol. 3, pp. 77–97).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garmezy, N. (1991). Resiliency and vulnerability to adverse developmental outcomes associated with poverty. The American Behavioral Scientist, 34(4), 416–430.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garmezy, N., Masten, A. S., & Tellegen, A. (1984). The study of stress and competence in children – A building block for developmental psychopathology. Child Development, 55(1), 97–111.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garrett, J. L., & Eccles, J. S. (2009). Transition to adulthood: Linking late-adolescent lifestyles to family and work status in the mid twenties. In I. Schoon & K. R. Silbereisen (Eds.), Transitions from school to work: Globalisation, individualisation, and patterns of diversity (pp. 243–264). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Gottlieb, G. (1992). Individual development and evolution. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Graber, J. A., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (1996). Transitions and turning points: Navigating the passage from childhood through adolescence. Developmental Psychology, 32, 768–776.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Havighurst, R. J. (1948/1972). Developmental tasks and education. New York, NY: David McKay.

    Google Scholar 

  • Havighurst, R. J. (1953). Human development and education, New York: Longmans.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heckhausen, J. (1999). Developmental regulation in adulthood: Age-normative and sociostructural constraints as adaptive challenges. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaplan, H. B. (1999). Toward an understanding of resilience: A critical review of definitions and models. In M. D. Glantz & J. L. Johnson (Eds.), Resilience and development: Positive life adaptations (pp. 17–83). New York, NY: Kluwer Academic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kumpfer, K. L. (1999). Factors and processes contributing to resilience: The resilience framework. In M. D. Glantz & J. L. Johnson (Eds.), Resilience and development: Positive life adaptations (pp. 179–224). New York, NY: Kluwer Academic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laub, J. H., & Sampson, R. J. (2003). Shared beginnings, divergent lives. Delinquent boys to age 70. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lazarus, R. L., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. New York, NY: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lerner, R. M. (1984). On the nature of human plasticity. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lerner, R. M. (1996). Relative plasticity, integration, temporality, and diversity in human development: A developmental contextual perspective about theory, process, and method. Developmental Psychology, 32(4), 781–786.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lerner, R. M., & Benson, P. (2003). Developmental assets and asset-building communities. New York, NY: Kluwer Academic.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Levinson, D. J. (1986). A conception of adult development. The American Psychologist, 41, 3–14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Linver, M. R., Brooks-Gunn, J., & Kohen, D. E. (2002). Family processes as pathways from income to young children’s development. Developmental Psychology, 38(5), 719–734.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Luthar, S. S. (1997). Socioeconomic disadvantage and psychosocial adjustment: Perspectives from developmental psychopathology. In S. S. Luthar, J. A. Burack, L. Chisholm, & J. R. Weisz (Eds.), Developmental psychopathology: Perspectives on adjustment, risk, and disorder (pp. 459–485). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luthar, S. S., Cicchetti, D., & Becker, B. (2000). The construct of resilience: A critical evaluation and guidelines for future work. Child Development, 71(3), 543–562.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Luthar, S. S., & Zelazo, L. B. (2003). Research on resilience: An integrative view. In S. S. Luthar (Ed.), Resilience and vulnerability. Adaptation in the context of childhood adversities (pp. 510–549). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Masten, A. (1994). Resilience in individual development: successful adaptation despite risk and adversity. In M. C. Wang & E. W. Gordon (Eds.), Educational resilience in inner-city America: challenges and prospects (pp. 3–25). Hillsdale, N.J.: L. Erlbaum Associates.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Masten, A. S., & Coatsworth, J. D. (1998). The development of competence in favorable and unfavorable environments - Lessons from research on successful children. American Psychologist, 53(2), 205–220.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Masten, A. S., Hubbard, J. J., Gest, S. D., Tellegen, A., Garmezy, N., & Ramirez, M. (1999). Competence in the context of adversity: Pathways to resilience and maladaptation from childhood to late adolescence. Development and Psychopathology, 11(1), 143–169.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Masten, A. S. (2001). Ordinary magic – Resilience processes in development. The American Psychologist, 56(3), 227–238.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Masten, A. S., & Powell, J. L. (2003). A Resilience Framework for Research, Policy, and Practice. In S. S. Luthar (Ed.), Resilience and vulnerablity : adaptation in the context of childhood adversities (pp. 1–25). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Masten, A. S. (2007). Resilience in developing systems: Progress and promise as the fourth wave rises. Development and Psychopathology, 19(3), 921–930.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Masten, A. S. (2009). Ordinary Magic: Lessons from research on resilience in human development. Education Canada, 49(3), 28–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Masten, A. S., & O’Dougherty Wright, M. (2009). Resilience over the lifespan. Developmental perspectives on resistance, recovery, and transformation. In J. W. Reich, A. J. Zautra, & J. S. Hall (Eds.), Handbook of adult resilience. New York, NY: Guilford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Masten, A. S., & Cicchetti, D. (2010). Developmental cascades. Development and Psychopathology, 22(3), 491–495.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Melhuish, E., Belsky, J., Leyland, A. H., Barnes, J., & National Evaluation of Sure Start Research Team. (2008). Effects of fully-established sure start local programmes on 3-year-old children and their families living in England: A quasi-experimental observational study. The Lancet, 372(9650), 1641–1647.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Osgood, D. W., Ruth, G., Eccles, J. S., Jacobs, J. E., & Barber, B. L. (2005). Six paths to adulthood. In R. A. Settersten Jr., F. F. Furstenberg, & R. G. Rumbaut (Eds.), On the frontier of adulthood. Theory, research and public policy (pp. 320–355). Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pianta, R. C., & Walsh, D. J. (1996). High-risk children in schools: Constructing sustaining relationships. London, UK: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Richters, J., & Weintraub, S. (1990). Beyond diathesis: Toward an understanding of high-risk environments. In J. Rolf, A. Masten, D. Cicchetti, K. H. Nuechterlin, & S. Weintraub (Eds.), Risk and protective factors in the development of psychopathology (pp. 67–96). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Rutter, M. (1979). Protective factors in children’s responses to stress and disadvantage. In M. W. Kent, & J. E. Rolf (Eds.), Primary prevention of psychopathology: Social competence in children (pp. 49–62). Hanover, NH: Universty Press of New England.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Rutter, M. (1981). Stress, coping and development – Some issues and some questions. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 22(4), 323–356.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rutter, M. (1985). Resilience in the face of adversity – Protective factors and resistance to psychiatric-­disorder. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 147, 598–611.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rutter, M. (1987). Psychosocial resilience and protective mechanisms. The American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 57(3), 316–331.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rutter, M. (1989). Pathways from childhood to adult life. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 30(1), 23–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rutter, M. (1990). Psychosocial resilience and protective mechanisms. In J. Rolf, A. S. Masten, D. Chichetti, K. H. Nuechterlin, & S. Weintraub (Eds.), Risk and protective factors in the development of psychopathology (pp. 181–214). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Rutter, M. (1998). Developmental catch-up, and deficit, following adoption after severe global early privation. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 39(4), 465–476.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rutter, M. (2006). Implications of resilience concepts for scientific understanding. Annals of the New York Academy of Science, 1094(1), 1–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rutter, M. (2009). Understanding and testing risk mechanisms for mental disorders. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 50(1–2), 44–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sacker, A., & Schoon, I. (2007). Educational resilience in later life: Resources and assets in adolescence and return to education after leaving school at age 16. Social Science Research, 36(3), 873–896.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sameroff, A. J. (1983). Developmental systems: Contexts and evolution. In W. Kesson, & P. H. Mussen (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology (Vol. 1). New York: Wiley.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sameroff, A. J. (Ed.). (2009). The transactional model of Development. How children and contexts shape each other. Washington, DC: American Psychological Press.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sameroff, A. J. (2010). A unified theory of development: A dialectic integration of nature and nurture. Child Development, 81(1), 6–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schoon, I. (2006). Risk and resilience. Adaptations in changing times. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Schoon, I. (2007). Adaptations to changing times: Agency in context. International Journal of Psychology, 42(2), 94–101.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schoon, I. (2010a). Childhood cognitive ability and adult academic attainment: Evidence from three British cohort studies. Longitudinal and Life Course Studies, 1(3), 241–258.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schoon, I. (2010b). Planning for the future: Changing education expectations in three British cohorts. Social Historical Research, 35(2), 99–119.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schoon, I., & Bynner, J. (2003). Risk and resilience in the life course: Implications for interventions and social policies. Journal of Youth Studies, 6(1), 21–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schoon, I., & Bartley, M. (2008). The role of human capability and resilience. Psychologist, 21(1), 24–27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schoon, I., Cheng, H., & Jones, E. (2010). Resilience in children’s development. In K. Hansen, H. Joshi, & S. Dex (Eds.), Children of the 21st century: From birth to five years (pp. 233–248). Bristol, UK: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schoon & Duckworth, (2010). Leaving school early and making it! Evidence from two British birth cohorts. European Psychologist, 15(4), 283–292.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schoon, I., & Polek, E. (2011). Pathways to economic wellbeing among teenage mothers in Great Britain. European Psychologist, 16(1), 11–20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schoon, I., Ross, A., & Martin, P. (2009). Sequences, patterns, and variations in the assumption of work and family related roles. Evidence from two British birth cohorts. In I. Schoon & K. R. Silbereisen (Eds.), Transitions from school to work: Globalisation, individualisation, and patterns of diversity (pp. 219–242). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Sroufe, L. A. (1979). The coherence of individual development: Early care, attachment, and subsequent developmental issues. The American Psychologist, 34, 834–841.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sroufe, L. A., & Rutter, M. (1984). The Domain of Developmental Psychopathology. Child Development, 55(1), 17–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Staudinger, U. M., Marsiske, M., & Baltes, P. B. (1993). Resilience and levels of reserve capacity in later adulthood – Perspectives from life-span theory. Development and Psychopathology, 5(4), 541–566.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ungar, M. (2004a). A constructionist discourse on resilience. Multiple contexts, multiple realities among at-risk children and youth. Youth & Society, 35, 341–365.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ungar, M. (2004b). Nurturing hidden resilience in troubled youth. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Von Bertalanffy, L. (1968). General system theory: Foundations development applications. New York: Braziller.

    Google Scholar 

  • Werner, H. (1957). The concept of development from a comparative and organismic point of view. In D. B. Harris (Ed.), The concept of development. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minneapolis Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Werner, E. E., & Smith, R. S. (1982). Overcoming the odds: High risk children from birth to adulthood. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Findings presented in this chapter are based on research funded by the Nuffield Foundation and the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) grant number RES-594-28-0001.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Education, University of London, London, UK

    Ingrid Schoon

Authors
  1. Ingrid Schoon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ingrid Schoon .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Work, Dalhousie University, Coburg Road 6414, Halifax, B3H 2A7, Nova Scotia, Canada

    Michael Ungar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Schoon, I. (2012). Temporal and Contextual Dimensions to Individual Positive Development: A Developmental–Contextual Systems Model of Resilience. In: Ungar, M. (eds) The Social Ecology of Resilience. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-0586-3_13

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation