Within recent years, a new body of evidence has surfaced which counterbalances the "deficit" philosophy that prevails within teacher preparation programs (Garmezy & Rutter, 1985; Masten & Garmezy, 1985; Rutter, 1985). Evidence from these investigations reveals that many individuals who suffer from extreme life-stressing conditions succeed in spite of adverse conditions. This phenomenon, known as "resilience," results in a heightened likelihood of success in school and in other aspects of life despite environmental adversities (Wang, Haertel & Walberg, 1995). It is extremely important for teachers who work with urban youth to understand the phenomenon of "resilience", to be able to identify characteristics which help protect children against environmental stressors, and to understand how to create supportive academic-enriched environments for these children. For children and youth who experience poverty and other stressful situations within their environments, having an effective teacher and supportive school environment can often mean the difference between success and failure in life (Haberman, 1996). These children often have no life options for achieving decent lives other than by experiencing success in school (1996).

The concept of resilience is less than twenty-five years old, yet it has a substantial history in developmental psychopathology (Garmezy, Masten & Tellegen, 1984; Garmezy, 1985). For decades it has been well documented that children who experience one or more chronic, profound stressors, such as death of a close family member, illness and hospitalization, chronic poverty and neglect, chronic family tensions and discord, parental divorce, or parental mental illness, were destined to experience adverse psychological and physical effects (Garmezy & Rutter, 1985; Masten & Garmezy, 1985; Rutter, 1985). The concept of "resilience" originated from an intriguing incongruity; many children who experience chronic, profound stressors; for reasons not fully understood, not only surmount adversity, but "exhibit behavioral adaptation and manifest competence" (p. 197, Garmezy, 1981).

The earliest work on resilience can be traced back specifically to investigations of schizophrenia, poverty, and physical illness and trauma. The observation of recognized competence (later known as resilience) in the psychological literature originated with Professor Manfred Blueler of Geneva who conducted a 20-year longevity study while serving as psychiatrist and family physician for a group of patients with schizophrenia. Blueler (1978) discovered that close to three-fourths of the children of the mentally ill patients remained mentally sound or invulnerable despite their inherent disadvantages. Moreover, Blueler (1978) described the steeling or hardening effect these experiences had on some children, which left them quite capable of conquering any problem, seemingly to spite their early disadvantages. Although these children could never fully free themselves from the memories of their mentally ill parents and their dysfunctional family life during childhood, many exhibited surprising competence in later life, especially in occupational success (Blueler, 1978). During the same time period, findings from an investigation conducted in the United States by Garmezy and Neuchterlein (1972) applied the concept of "invulnerability" to describe a group of African-American children reared in conditions of poverty, squalor, and prejudice who exhibited high competence and adjustment despite their environmental conditions.

Further investigations resulted from these initial findings (Garmezy, 1981, 1985; Rutter; 1985, 1987; Werner & Smith, 1982, 1992). The underlying question the researchers sought to answer while investigating the phenomenon of resilience was why some individuals survive adverse conditions emotionally intact whereas others suffer from such adverse conditions as alcoholism, drug abuse, emotional instability, often resulting in educational failure. Findings from these investigations stressed the importance of examining protective attributes in "at-risk" populations and helped reframe the study of psychological and sociological development using a "strengths" model rather than a deficit and problem-oriented approach (Garmezy, 1985, 1991; Garmezy et al., 1984; Garmezy & Tellegen, 1984; Rutter, 1979, 1985, 1987; Werner & Smith, 1982, 1992).

Garmezy and his colleagues developed methods for researching resilient individuals and identified attributes that distinguish them from their vulnerable peers (Garmezy, 1985; Garmezy et al, 1984; Garmezy & Devine, 1985; Garmezy, Masten & Tellegen, 1984). Garmezy et. al focused their research in three major areas: (1) the identification of children at risk for psychopathology; (2) the effects of stressful life events; and (3) the protective attributes influencing stress resistance. In 1984, Garmezy et al. conducted an exploratory multiple regression correlation analysis on 200 children taken from a sample of 612 third-to-sixth-grade children who had been identified as suffering from multiple stressful life events and conditions. Using three generic models that described the impact of stress and personal attributes on quality of adaptation, Garmezy and his colleagues (1984) found that disadvantaged children, with lower IQ and socioeconomic status and less positive family qualities, generally were less competent and displayed more behavioral disruption; however, some of the disadvantaged children proved competent and did not display signs of behavioral problems. Moreover, Garmezy and his associates (1984) concluded that, "Many children do not succumb to deprivation, and it is important that we determine why this is so and what it is that protects them from the hazards they face"(p.109, Garmezy et al, 1984).

Rutter (1977, 1979) conducted a series of epidemiologic studies during a ten-year period in order to compare two geographically different areas of Great Britain, the Isle of Wight and an inner London borough, with respect to the rates of neurotic disorders, conduct disorders, and specific reading retardation in ten-year-old children. Findings from the study of 125 children of mentally ill parents indicated that even though the children of the mentally ill parents lived under extremely stressful conditions in having to help care for their parents, most of the children were free from any signs of mental illness (Rutter,1977). "It is difficult to imagine the dreadful stresses experienced by youngsters who are brought up by mentally disturbed parents…everything appears against them, but a proportion of such children developed normally without any evidence of disorder at any time during the course of our intensive longitudinal study" (Rutter, 1977, p.44).

Analysis of the findings identified factors associated with risk for psychopathology, as well as protective attributes (e.g. positive early personality dispositions and family and external sources of support) that reduce risk and promote healthy psychological adjustment (Rutter, 1977). Findings indicate that the number of risk factors in a child’s life were predictive of later problems. That is, the number of stressors interacted with each other to establish conditions under which the combination of chronic stresses was more damaging than the summation of the effects of the separate stresses considered singly. Specifically, low socioeconomic children who came from unfavorable family environments were more likely to display psychopathologic symptoms. Reciprocally, low-socioeconomic children from more favored homes (with a caring parent or significant other) were less likely to develop psychological disorders; a favorable home environment exerted a protective effect in relation to the stresses (Rutter, 1977).

In addition, there were marked individual differences in how children responded to deprivation or disadvantage. Rutter (1979) suggested that genetic factors played a significant role in determining individual differences in personality characteristics and intelligence. Rutter (1979) determined that personality traits enhanced the ability of the child to cope with new situations encountered while growing up and served as a protective attribute. Specifically, Rutter (1979) explained "Adaptability and malleability are among the chief temperamental characteristics which protect against psychiatric disorder in childhood" (p.69). It was found that the constitutional temperament of the individual determined how the individual responded to the environment. "Even in quarrelsome and discordant homes, the temperamentally easy child tended to avoid much of the negative interchange"(Rutter, 1979, p.57).

Rutter (1979) also found the school environment particularly important in determining children’s behavior and emotional development. He determined that a child’s development was shaped by experiences outside the home, as well as by those inside the family. Furthermore, a good school environment exerts important protective effects as a social institution in a child’s life (i.e. enhances sense of personal worth, increases social contacts, fosters sense of achievement). Rutter (1979) explained that good scholastic attainment appears to have a protective effect even after the children’s family circumstances are taken into account. Moreover, Rutter (1979) found that a good relationship with one parent provided a substantial protective effect. Children who lived in severely quarrelsome, discordant, unhappy homes, with at least one parent who had been under psychiatric care were found resilient if they experienced a good relationship with the other parent, defined in terms of presence of warmth and absence of severe criticism (Rutter, 1977, 1979). Findings from Rutter (1977, 1979) also indicate that bonds and attachments children experience to people other than parents have the same psychological effect in spite of persistent differences in their strength. Rutter (1979) concluded that the protective effect depends more on the quality, strength, and security of the relationship than on the particular person with whom the relationship is formed.

During the same time period, Werner and Smith (1982) conducted a 30-year longevity study that followed 623 children born in 1955 on the island of Kauai, Hawaii, from birth to adulthood. The study group consisted of the children and grandchildren of immigrants who left the poverty of their Asian or European homelands to work in the sugar or pineapple plantations on the island of Kauai. Werner and Smith (1982) designated one-third of the subjects "high-risk" because of a combination of factors, including extreme poverty, family instability and poor parenting skills, parental lack of education, and parental psychopathology. They found that one-third of the indexed "high-risk" group revealed evidence of resilience (Werner & Smith, 1982). These subjects grew into "competent and autonomous young adults who worked well, played well, loved well, and expected well"(Werner & Smith, 1982, p.153). Werner and Smith (1982) categorized the results into three types of protective attributes that supported resilience: dispositional attributes of the individual, affectional ties with the family, and external support systems in the environment. During early childhood, resilient high-risk boys and girls experienced fewer illnesses and their parents perceived them to be very active, affectionate, and socially responsive (Werner & Smith, 1982). During the first two years of life, resilient youngsters displayed self-help skills and adequate sensorimotor and language development; in middle school, resilient children possessed adequate problem-solving, communication skills and perceptual-motor development (Werner & Smith, 1982). In late adolescence, resilient teens possessed a high degree of internal locus of control, a positive self-esteem, and an achievement-oriented attitude, and in early adulthood, resilient subjects were able to draw upon numerous informal sources of support within their environment and expressed a desire to "improve themselves" (Werner & Smith, 1982). The authors clarified their findings by stating that resilience does not mean that these children never experienced distress. Werner and Smith (1982) summarized their findings by stating, "along the way we learned that both vulnerability (susceptibility to negative developmental outcomes) and resiliency (successful adaptation following exposure to stressful life events) are relative concepts that do not preclude change over time"(p.73).

Although a single definition of resilience is not found within the literature, Zimmerman and Arunkumar’s (1994) research described the commonality of the varying definitions of resilience as encompassing: individual characteristics, context of the problem situation, risk factors, and protective attributes. Benard (1991) reported that, as the children studied in various longitudinal projects grew into adolescence and adulthood, the amazing and consistent finding that emerged resulted in numerous terms to describe the same phenomenon; "invulnerable," "stress-resistant," "ego-resilient," "invincible," and, the most popular term, "resilient" Thus, even though various labels were used within investigations to describe resilience, the under-lying meanings proved congruent. Rutter (1987) felt that resiliency encompassed one’s "perceptions of self-efficacy, ability to deal with change and a host of problem solving skills" (p.316). Werner and Smith (1992) defined resilience as the capacity of children and adolescents who face stress to emerge into adulthood without being debilitated. Gordon (1994) described the resiliency process as a bit elusive and difficult to define in that it may operate differently at various times in an individual’s life. While reporting on the "Project Competence" studies, Garmezy (1991) defined resilience as "a process of, or capacity of, or the outcome of successful adaptation despite challenging and threatening circumstances"(p.459). Rutter (1985) explained that the prescience of vulnerability and resiliency have been advanced to determine "the extent of an individual susceptibility to risk factors" (p. 57).

Findings from this body of literature emphasized the importance of three categories of resilience-enhancing attributes (1) dispositional attributes, such as sociability/ adaptability, internal locus of control, task-orientation/goal setting, problem solving; (2) familial attributes, such as support from a warm caring parent (or significant other), open communication and exchange of feelings; and (3) external attributes found in social capital from the community sources such as the positive role-models found within a child’s community (Garmezy, 1985, 1991; Garmezy et al., 1984; Garmezy, Masten & Tellegen, 1984; Rutter, 1979, 1985, 1987; Werner & Smith, 1982, 1992). Garmezy (1985), Rutter (1985), and Werner and Smith (1982) found that protective attributes mediate or moderate the effects of exposure to risk. Protection involved enhancing resiliency attributes in response to risk factors; therefore, identification of the protective attributes that build resiliency was an important component in the understanding of the resiliency process. Protective attributes should be viewed as sources of differences in response to a given amount of exposure to risk (Hawkins et al, 1992). "The idea of identifying protective attributes that produce an enduring shield or resilience in the face of risk for negative outcomes has direct relevance for risk-focused programs"(p.86, Hawkins et al., 1992).

The basic trait found in resilient children that continued through adulthood was a temperament that resulted in positive responses from others. Social competence was a commonly identified attribute of resilient children that usually included the qualities of responsiveness, flexibility, empathy and caring, communication skills, and a sense of humor (Benard, 1991).

Werner and Smith (1982) found that, "most of the resilient infants on Kauai shared several characteristics of responsiveness"(p.56). The infants were described by Werner and Smith (1982) as "cuddly and affectionate who responded positively to social interaction and were very active"(p.56). "Responsive, active infants have the potential for capturing even an initially unresponsive parent into cycles of effective interactions"(p.57). As the subjects grew to adolescence, Werner and Smith (1982) found that resilient subjects possessed better verbal communication skills than did their nonresilient counterparts. Werner and Smith (1982) also reported resilient adolescents possessed higher levels of self-esteem, superior social skills, and higher levels of coping skills while enduring more stressful situations than the nonresilient subjects endured.

Garmezy’s (1981) study of resilient African-American children in urban schools exposed to conditions of extreme poverty advanced that the resilient children possessed a cognitive style marked by reflectiveness and "impulse control." Geary’s (1988) study on the academic success of at-risk minority teenagers in an urban high school found that the teachers felt that the academically successful students possessed a good attitude and a willingness to work hard. This attitude was described by Geary (1988) as respecting others, coming to class prepared, and volunteering for assignments. Garmezy (1981) advanced that teachers rated resilient children as possessing specific social skills; teachers described the students as friendly, cooperative, and emotionally more stable than their counterparts.

In an exploratory analysis of 170 white college sophomores about goals, self-concept and academic abilities of resilient and non-resilient students, Gordon (1994) found that resilient students believed in their ability to do well academically and believed their school environment supported their academic endeavors. All of the students in the study came from economically deprived, stressful backgrounds, but the resilient students were those defined as able to achieve a grade point average (GPA) of 2.75 or higher under the stressful conditions. Gordon (1994) also found that the resilient students revealed a stronger self-concept than did the non-resilient students. Findings also revealed that the resilient students believed in their ability to control their cognitive ability and placed emphasis on cognitive goals. In addition, the resilient students exhibited a strong motivational pattern in the cognitive sphere of their lives. In the social area of their lives, the resilient students believed in their social abilities, but also felt their environment was not supportive of this aspect of their lives.

Festinger’s (1983) investigation of 277 persons, who in early childhood were placed in foster care in New York City until they reached maturity, stressed the importance of resilience in determining life’s outcomes. Festinger (1983) posited that people should be cautious in their predictions about those who experience foster care. Festinger (1983) found that the foster-reared children, all entering the foster system labeled at-risk (68% had multiple placements before the age of 5), were found to be remarkably similar to the comparison group in terms of employment and "sense of happiness" when they reached young adulthood. Festinger (1983) explained that the differences in the socioeconomic status of subjects who experienced foster care and young adults nationally had some bearing on the educational achievements of the foster care subjects. However, Festinger (1983) remarked, "all together one can conclude that the adults from foster care did not differ from other adults their age in their sense of well-being"(p.252).

Garmezy (1981), Peng et al (1991) and Werner and Smith (1982, 1992) also defined resilient individuals as those possessing an internal locus of control. However, when identifying this protective attribute, investigators referred to this characteristic using different terms. Garmezy and Rutter (1983) and Werner and Smith (1982) used "internal locus of control" and a "sense of power". Garmezy and Rutter (1983) referred to "self-esteem" and "self-efficacy". Van Aken (1996) defined this characteristic as "ego-resiliency."

Rotter’s early psychological work in 1954 first described internal locus of control as a relatively stable trait that captured the distinction between self-determination and control by others. Rotter (1954) stated that some individuals have an internal locus of control and believe they are responsible for their own fate, whereas others tend to have an external locus of control, generally believing that people and forces outside themselves control their lives. Werner and Smith (1982, 1992) gave credence to internal locus of control in resilient children because of the close relation of this characteristic to a child’s feelings of self-esteem. Garmezy’s (1981) investigations with disadvantaged African-American children identified the importance of internal locus of control in substantiating resilience in minority children. Werner and Smith (1982) stated that "optimal adaptive development appears to be characterized by a balance between the power of the person and the power of the social and physical environment" (p.136). Werner and Smith (1982) found that in late adolescence, a significant difference in locus-of-control perception exists between resilient offspring of psychotic parents and youth who developed serious coping problems; the more resilient youth had faith in the control of their fate. Werner and Smith (1982) characterized an individual who perceived the occurrence or outcome of an event as contingent upon his or her own behavior as possessing an internal locus of control.

Van Aken’s (1996) longitudinal study, which tracked personality profiles of 100 individuals from childhood through adolescence and into young adulthood, found that consistency of personality related to ego resiliency. "Relations were found in both directions," stated Van Aken (1996), "resiliency and peer acceptance predict later consistency of personality as well as consistency of personality predicting later resiliency and perceived peer support" (p.1).

Rutter (1985) also found that resilient children possessed a high ability for problem solving and a strong sense of purpose. Rutter’s (1985) study of abused and neglected girls who later became competent, healthy adults found a high level of competence with regard to planning marriages with healthy, competent men. Peng, et al.’s (1992) study of resilient urban students found that resilient students had higher educational aspirations than did non-resilient students. Benard’s (1991) study of resiliency in children also concluded that the students exhibiting characteristics of resiliency "perceive experiences as constructive, maintain healthy expectations, set goals, and have a clear sense of purpose about their futures" (p. 48). Benard (1991) found these children are goal directed, have high expectations, and possess high problem solving skills.

The attributes of sociability, internal locus of control, strong problem solving skills, and sense of purpose appear to be the commonality of personality traits that resilient individuals possess. Stress-resistant children were found to possess the ability to regulate impulsive drives, delay gratification, and orient themselves toward the future (Werner and Smith, 1982, 1992). Werner and Smith (1982) confirmed the importance of this attribute in their 30-year study of the resilient children of Kauai. "The central component of effective coping with the multiplicity of inevitable life stresses appears to be a sense of coherence, a feeling of confidence that one’s internal and external environment is (sic) predictable and that things will probably work out as well as can be reasonably expected"(p.163).

Another powerful attribute found to influence resilient children is a supportive caregiver that has high expectations for the child. In a 30-year longitudinal study with the children of Kauai, Werner and Smith (1982) found that the resilient children identified in the study had a close bond with a caregiver who offered nurturing attention during the first years of life, thereby establishing a strong sense of trust. This caregiver usually was the mother or father; however, other individuals, such as grandmothers, aunts, uncles, and older siblings, often served as alternative caregivers if the parents were unable.

Peng, Lee, Wang, and Walberg (1991) used the National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS) database of the U.S. Department of Education from 1988 to identify unique characteristics and experiences of low socio-economic (SES), urban students who displayed high scores on a national normed test of reading and mathematics. Peng et al. (1991) found that these students "felt internally controlled, interacted often with parents, and attended schools where learning was emphasized" (p. 49). Peng et al. (1991) found that the parents of these students had high expectations for their children and, thus, exerted pressure on the child to work diligently toward academic achievement. Masten (1994) also found this attribute important and described the common elements of parents who serve in the "protective attribute" role for resilient children. These parents encouraged the undertaking of new challenges that they felt their child could handle and provided opportunities for confidence-building experiences. Rutter (1979) described a good relationship with a parent as one in which the child experiences a high level of acceptance and nurturing and a low level of criticism.

However, not all resilient children had close relationships with their parents; instead, some resilient children reached beyond their parents to others who would act as caregivers. In a study of children with mentally ill mothers, Musick et al. (1987) stated that having access to outside others allowed for a changing experience in which failings of the past could be mastered and success could be achieved beyond that which would have been predicted. Cowen and Work (1988) identified the coping skills of resilient children by describing their ability to distance themselves from family or friends who were distressed in order to accomplish constructive goals.

Festinger’s (1983) comparison study of adults who had been raised in foster care as children and individuals from a national sample found few differences in how the two groups assessed their lives. Festinger (1983) summarized his findings of the resilient adults by stating, "the young adults from foster care had settled in their communities and had become as much a part of their neighborhoods as young adults in the general population"(p. 232). "The young adults from foster care were also on the average as satisfied with their friendships and with the number of friends they had as were young adults from the general population" (p.233). "There were also no differences in their wish that people liked them more – [to increase] their need for acceptance" (p.234).

Schools and communities have been found to support the positive development of resilient youth. "Participating in a community, having social contacts with neighbors and friends, and reliance on others for support are important aspects of the social and psychological dimensions of a healthy life"(p.125, Festinger, 1983). Werner and Smith (1982) found that resilient youth depend upon peers, older friends, siblings, church members, ministers, and teachers throughout their lives. They also found that the positive role models most frequently encountered other than family members, was a favorite teacher. In a seven-year longitudinal study that followed a cohort of 10-year-old children, Rutter reported that schools were vital in helping to build resilience. Successful secondary schools had low levels of delinquency even though a significant portion of the incoming population enrolled with a frequent pattern of behavioral problems in elementary school.

Geary (1988) reported that resilient students found support outside the home by creating an informal network of people in their lives to whom they could turn during times of stress. Resilient students and their friends interacted by motivating each other through times of stress. Resilient students not only achieved academically, but also were involved in extracurricular activities that helped mitigate the negative influence of stress factors.

Festinger’s (1983) comparison study of adults who had been reared in foster care as children with individuals from a national sample found the former felt they belonged to the neighborhoods they called home. Many (45%) of the young adults belonged to a neighborhood club or a group associated with a church, and 95% of the young adults had someone in their lives they felt to whom they could turn in times of emotional stress. Moreover, Festinger (1983) found that various aspects of support were associated with a sense of well-being for those raised in foster homes.

In a two-year longitudinal study examining the relation of stressful life events and social supports to psychological distress and school performance, Dubois et al. (1992) found a significant effect for school personnel support. Dubois et al. (1992) explained that, "our results underscore the importance of paying greater attention to the contribution of supports from teachers and other school personnel in facilitating positive developmental outcomes" (p.553, 554). Findings from Dubois et al. (1992) indicated that youth who report relatively high levels of support form school personnel and low levels of family support are the least vulnerable to elevated levels of major stressful events.

The identification of children who overcome disadvantages in life, whether physical or social, is the first step in identifying the underlying processes that stimulate protection from or resilience against adverse environments (Garmezy 1991). Research supports the fact that many children and adults do overcome life’s difficulties (Benard, 1991; Festinger, 1983; Garmezy, 1991; Rutter, 1987; Werner and Smith 1982). In recent years, investigators have applied the concept of resilience to the educational environment. Wang, Haertel, and Walberg (1994) defined this application as "educational resilience" or "the heightened likelihood of success in school and other life accomplishments despite environmental adversities brought about by early traits, conditions, and experiences" (p.46). Waxman, Huang and Padron (1997) stated that "one area of research that has important implications for the educational improvement of minority students is that of examining resilient students, or students that succeed in school despite the presence of adverse conditions" (p.138). Teacher preparation programs must insure that pre-service teachers are trained to recognize and foster resilient children. It takes great courage, commitment and persistence to work with children who suffer from extreme environmental stressors. Current teacher education programs may not provide the novice teacher with the complete picture of the complex lives of urban students. "There is no way to provide a hopeful or an equal education to a child that one perceives and labels as basically inadequate" (Haberman, 1996, p 51). Shifting and changing points-of-view from a "deficit" model to a "strengths" model will prepare beginning teachers to meet the challenge of helping children reach their educational potential.

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