Factors and Processes Contributing to Resilience

188 Karol L. KumpFer
from highwrisk samples function comparably to wellwfunctioning children in
general population samples (Luthar & Zigler, 1991).
Occasionally these prospective studies begin after the occurrence of
a specific traumatic event, such as child abuse or parental divorce. Such
studies can be criticized for not having data on the child's adjustment prior
to the onset of the major stressor or risk factor. Causality is difficult to
determine since these children may have poor life adjustment or behaviors
prior to the trauma.
Prospective, Multiple Sampie Studies
This type of design is used by developmental researchers interested in
comparing children in the general population with a high-risk population
over time (Conger et al., 1992; Kumpfer, Molgaard, & Spoth, in press).
Matched pairs or families are sometimes used as control groups (Johnson,
Glassman, Fiks, & Rosen, 1990). This design could be used with many prevention
sturlies where one group is given an intervention, another is not,
and a generat population sample exists for comparison. Using this type of
design, Abelson, Zigler, & DeBlasi (1974) and Mulholland and associates
(1991) discovered that the resilient children in high-risk groups did not
equal the attainment of the normal, low-risk groups. This type of design
is encouraged by Luthar and Cushing (1996) to answer the question of
whether the most resilient individuals of a high-risk group truly resilient or
are simply the best of a generally poorly functioning group.
Outcome Research Pertaining to the Six Resiliency Predictor
Areas of the Resilience Framework
Outcome research on resilience was organized into the six predictor
areas of the proposed resiliency framework, namely: 1) the acute stressor or
challenge, 2) the cxternal environmental context, 3) person-environment
interactional processes, 4) internalself characteristics or resiliency factors, 5)
resiliency processes, and 6) the positive outcome. Research on each of these
six resilience predictor areas are discussed below in their own sections.
The Acute Stressor or Cha/lenge
The resiliency framework or process begins with an initiating event
and ends with an outcome, hopefully a successful one that demonstrates