Ordinary Magic: Resilience Processes in Development
Ordinary Magic: Resilience Processes in Development
Ordinary Magic: Resilience Processes in Development
Ann S. Masten
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Campus
The study of resilience in development has overturned by words such as invulnerable, or invincible. One of the
many negative assumptions and deficit-focused models earliest news articles about resilience in American psychol-
about children growing up under the threat of disadvan- ogy was about "the invulnerables" in the APA Monitor
tage and adversity. The most surprising conclusion emerg- (Pines, 1975). Similarly, a headline about this new research
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Low
explanatory power of negative life experiences is often
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youth (high competence, high adversity) were then com- which assume that patterns of development arise from
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
pared with both similarly competent peers with low adver- many interactions of organisms embedded in larger sys-
sity and a group of maladaptive peers who shared a history tems and require longitudinal study. Bergman and Mag-
of high adversity. In both studies, the fourth corner, repre- nussen (1997) described this strategy as longitudinal clas-
senting low risk, maladaptive children (who might be con- sification analysis.
sidered highly vulnerable, as in theory they do not fare well Most of the resilience investigators of the past decade
even with little adversity) were too few in number for have assumed that resilience arises from many dynamic
analysis, an empty-cell phenomenon in these school-based interactions within and between organism and environ-
samples (see Masten et al., 1999, discussion of the empty ment, but the systematic study of such patterns and path-
cell). Results reported by Masten et al. (1999) revealed that ways is in the nascent stage. To date, much of the discus-
competent-low-adversity and resilient youth, who shared a sion of resilient pathways has drawn upon case examples of
profile of average or better competence across three salient individuals, often within longitudinal studies (e.g., Cairns
domains (academic, conduct, social), had very similar psy- & Cairns, 1994; Werner & Smith, 1982). These anecdotes
chosocial resources, including better intellectual function- suggest that opportunities and choices at crucial junctures
ing and parenting quality, and more positive self-concepts. play an important role in the life course of resilient indi-
Both competent groups differed markedly from their mal- viduals who find mentors, enter the military, find a new or
adaptive peers on these attributes and resources, even deeper faith, marry healthy partners, leave deviant peer
though the resilient and maladaptive groups had similar groups, or in other ways take action that has positive
lifetime histories of severe to catastrophic negative life consequences for their life course. Resilient youth appear
experiences. Luthar's analysis was designed to assess the to place themselves in healthier contexts, generating op-
possibility that resilient youth suffer internal distress, in portunities for success or raising the odds of connecting
contrast to their external competence. Luthar's (1991) re- with prosocial mentors in a manner consistent with the
sults supported this view, although this finding was not concept of niche seeking (Scarr & McCartney, 1983). Such
replicated by Masten et al. (1999), who found generally behavior is quite difficult to study in the aggregate because
positive well-being among the resilient group. of the variability in timing and situations.
It is possible to invert the classification in these per- The best recent evidence of resilience in the sense of
son-focused studies and group individuals on the basis of recovery-to-normal trajectories of development can be
adversity and resources, rather than competence. In such found in the follow-up studies of children adopted away
cases, children high on a combination of resources repre- from institutional rearing characterized by extreme depri-
sented by scores on variables such as parenting quality, vation. Studies of Romanian adoptees provide dramatic
SES, and IQ appear to be well adjusted or competent, even documentation of developmental catch-up in many of the
with high-adversity exposure (Cowen et al., 1984; Masten children, both physically and cognitively (Ames, 1997;
et al., 1999); maladaptive profiles emerge when adversity is Rutter & ERA Study Team, 1998): in the words of Rutter
high and protective resources are weak. et al., "the degree of cognitive catch-up by the age of 4
Discriminant function analysis and cluster analysis years was spectacular" (p. 474). As observed in many other
also have been used to study resilient persons. Both of situations of extraordinary adversity, the capacity for de-
these strategies were used by Masten et al. (1999) to velopmental recovery when normative rearing conditions
corroborate their findings. Maladaptive youth could be are restored is amazing (Garmezy, 1985; Masten, Best, &
readily discriminated from the two competence groups by Garmezy, 1990; Wright, Masten, Northwood, & Hubbard,
resources and well-being indicators, whereas the resilient 1997). However, the impressive recovery trajectories of
and low-adversity competent groups could not be discrim- many children following dramatic improvements in rearing
inated from each other. Cluster analysis yielded resilient, conditions do not mean that all children recover well.
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Significant numbers of children from Romanian orphan- clude connections to competent and caring adults in the
ages, as well as from other situations of extreme and family and community, cognitive and self-regulation skills,
long-term adversity, have serious and chronic problems positive views of self, and motivation to be effective in the
that appear to be the residual of their experiences (Ames, environment (Garmezy, 1985; Luthar et al., 2000; Masten
1997; Gunnar, 2001). Nonetheless, the frequency and de- et al., 1990; Masten & Coatsworth, 1998; Masten & Reed,
gree of recovery of these children is compelling evidence in press; Wyman, Sandier, Wolchik, & Nelson, 2000).
of normative restorative processes at work, in response to Across different situations and research strategies, the con-
the provision of good psychological and physical care by sistent support for these resources suggests that basic hu-
an adoptive family. man adaptational systems are at work, many of which have
Pathway models of resilience also offer a conceptual been studied in some depth under the rubric of constructs
framework for intervention. Several of the most compre- such as attachment, authoritative parenting, intelligence,
hensive efforts to change the life course are conceptualized self-regulation, self-efficacy, pleasure-in-mastery, or intrin-
this way, including Head Start, Fast Track, and the Abece- sic motivation.
darian Project (Conduct Problems Prevention Research
Group, 1992, 1999; Ramey & Ramey, 1998; Zigler, Taus- Reconceptualizing Intervention: Goals,
sig, & Black, 1992). Theoretically, such interventions have Strategies, Assessment, and Classification
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.
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a developmental systems perspective and they target mul- Research on resilience phenomena has changed the nature
tiple systems in their intervention. Practical considerations of the frameworks, goals, assessments, strategies, and eval-
have necessitated simplification of their theoretical models uations in fields of prevention and treatment (Cicchetti,
for implementation and evaluation, but in each case, inter- Rappaport, Sandier, & Weissberg, 2000; Cowen, 2000;
vention results have been consistent with their models. Luthar et al., 2000; Masten, 1999a; Masten & Coatsworth,
These models differ, yet they all focus in developmentally 1998; Masten & Reed, in press; Wyman et al., 2000). Goals
sensitive ways on building competence and fostering now incorporate the promotion of competence as well as
healthy adaptive systems. the prevention or amelioration of symptoms and problems.
Strategies include the enhancement of assets as well as the
Conclusions From Research on^ reduction of risks or stressors, and the facilitation of pro-
Resilience Phenomena in the Lives tective processes as well as treatment of illness or reduction
of Children of harmful processes. Assessments include assets and po-
The accumulating data on resilience in development sug- tential resources as well as problems and risks, competence
gest that this class of phenomena is more ordinary than one as well as symptoms and disorder. These changes together
was led to expect by the extraordinary case histories that reflect a major transformation in the conceptualization of
often inspired its study. Resilience appears to be a common prevention and intervention. This change is evident in
phenomenon arising from ordinary human adaptive pro- reports on interventions, such as one by Hawkins, Cata-
cesses. The great threats to human development are those lano, Kosterman, Abbot, and Hill (1999), titled "Preventing
that jeopardize the systems underlying these adaptive pro- Adolescent Health-Risk Behaviors by Strengthening Pro-
cesses, including brain development and cognition, car- tection During Childhood." These investigators concluded:
egiver-child relationships, regulation of emotion and be-
havior, and the motivation for learning and engaging in the One explanation for the durability of these effects in contrast to
environment. This does not mean that in specific instances, those observed by others is that this intervention focused on
increasing school bonding and achievement rather than on devel-
extraordinary talents or parenting or good fortune may not oping norms or skills specifically related to avoiding health-risk
play a key role for an individual's positive development or behaviors, (p. 233)
recovery; rather, the data suggest that normative processes
account for much of the resilience observed across a wide Similarly, Wyman et al. (2000), proposed the term cumu-
variety of situations. Ironically, expectations that special lative competence promotion and stress protection to de-
qualities were required to overcome adversity may have scribe how interventions can be conceptualized in terms of
been influenced by prevailing deficit models of psychopa- resilience. It has also become evident that the classification
thology that the early resilience investigators set out to systems for psychopathology need an overhaul to address
overturn. In other words, expecting extraordinary qualities more effectively the salient role of competence and adap-
in resilient individuals implied that ordinary adaptive re- tive functioning in defining and treating disorder (Masten
sources and systems were not enough. & Curtis, 2000).
Evidence from variable-oriented and person-oriented
studies of resilience converge on a short list of attributes of Advancing Research on Adaptive Systems
child and environment that turn out to be well-established The roads taken to understand resilience have led investi-
general correlates of competence and psychopathology. gators toward more integrative studies of adaptive systems
Despite all the flaws in the early studies of resilience in human development, how they work and how these
pointed out by early and later reviewers, recent studies systems develop and respond to variations in the environ-
continue to corroborate the importance of a relatively small ment. The new frontier for resilience research is under-
set of global factors associated with resilience. These in- standing these processes at multiple levels, from genes to
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March 2001 • American Psychologist
relationships, and investigating how the individual as a in individuals and society. Even the most basic of human
complex living system interacts effectively and ineffec- adaptational systems are not invulnerable and require nur-
tively over time with the systems in which it is embedded. turance. All too often, children who contend with the
Exciting new work on the linkages among adversity, brain greatest adversities do not have the protections afforded by
development, and the quality of adaptation in terms of both basic resources nor the opportunities and experiences that
competence and psychopathology, exemplify this frontier nurture the development of adaptive systems. If major
(Cicchetti & Cannon, 1999; Maier & Watkins, 1998; Nel- threats to children are those adversities that undermine
son, 1999, 2000). basic protective systems for development, it follows that
Research on resilience has underscored the impor- efforts to promote competence and resilience in children at
tance of integrating studies of competence and psychopa- risk should focus on strategies that protect or restore the
thology, of individual differences and normative patterns in efficacy of these basic systems. Resilience models and
development, and of how developmental processes unfold findings also suggest that programs will be most effective
in normative compared with extremely deviant conditions. when they tap into these basic but powerful systems.
These goals are fundamental to the integrative science of The conclusion that resilience emerges from ordinary
developmental psychopathology, which rose to prominence processes offers a far more optimistic outlook for action
during the same period as resilience (Cicchetti, 1984; Mas- than the idea that rare and extraordinary processes are
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.