Dante Cicchetti

The Construct of Resilience: A Critical Evaluation and Guidelines for Future Work.

This paper presents a critical appraisal of resilience, a construct connoting the maintenance of positive adaptation by individuals despite experiences of significant adversity. As empirical research on resilience has burgeoned in recent years, criticisms have been levied at work in this area. These critiques have generally focused on ambiguities in definitions and central terminology; heterogeneity in risks experienced and competence achieved by individuals viewed as resilient; instability of the phenomenon of resilience; and concerns regarding the usefulness of resilience as a theoretical construct. We address each identified criticism in turn, proposing solutions for those we view as legitimate and clarifying misunderstandings surrounding those we believe to be less valid. We conclude that work on resilience possesses substantial potential for augmenting the understanding of processes affecting at-risk individuals. Realization of the potential embodied by this construct, however, will remain constrained without continued scientific attention to some of the serious conceptual and methodological pitfalls that have been noted by skeptics and proponents alike.

Risk and Protective Factors in the Development of Psychopathology

This important volume presents a definitive review of the origins and implications of developmental psychopathology and what has been learned about the phenomenon of psychosocial resilience in diverse populations at risk. Chapters by distinguished investigators in clinical psychology, psychiatry, and child development, many of whose work led to the new developmental model of psychopathology, provide a unique review of research on vulnerability and resistance to disorder spanning from infancy to adulthood. The volume is a tribute to Professor Norman Garmezy, a pioneer in developmental psychopathology and a renowned researcher of resilience in children at risk. Highlighted throughout the volume is Professor Garmezys theme that it is as important to understand successful outcomes as it is to study pathology in the search for better treatments and the prevention of developmental behavioural problems.

The construct of resilience: Implications for interventions and social policies

The focus of this article is on the interface between research on resilience-a construct representing positive adaptation despite adversity--and the applications of this work to the development of interventions and social policies. Salient defining features of research on resilience are delineated, as are various advantages, limitations, and precautions linked with the application of the resilience framework to developing interventions. For future applied efforts within this tradition, a series of guiding principles are presented along with exemplars of existing programs based on the resilience paradigm. The article concludes with discussions of directions for future work in this area, with emphases on an enhanced interface between science and practice, and a broadened scope of resilience-based interventions in terms of the types of populations, and the types of adjustment domains, that are encompassed.

Equifinality and multifinality in developmental psychopathology

Since its inception as an emergent interdisciepigenesis, may lead to the same outcome, plinary science, diversity in process and outStated differently, in an open system (i.e., one come have been conceived as among the hallwhere there is maintenance in change, dymarks of the developmental psychopathology namic order of processes, organization, selfperspective (Cicchetti, 1984, 1990; Garregulation, etc.) the same end state may be mezy & Streitman, 1974; Kohlberg, Lareached from a variety of different initial conCrosse, & Riclcs, 1972; Sameroff, 1989; ditions and through different processes. This Sroufe, 1986, 1989; Sroufe & Rutter, 1984). is referred to as equifinality, an organismic Thus, developmental psychopathologists have process that possesses significant implications articulated the expectations that there are mulfor psychological and biological regulatory tiple contributors to adaptive or maladaptive systems (Cicchetti, 1996) and for behavioral outcomes in any individual, that these factors and biological plasticity (Cicchetti & Tucker, and their relative contributions vary among 1994b). In contrast, in a closed system the end individuals, and that there are myriad pathstate is inextricably linked to and determined ways to any particular manifestation of adapby the initial conditions: if either the conditive or disordered behavior (Cicchetti, 1993; tions change or the processes are modified, Richters & Cicchetti, 1993; Robins, 1966; then the end state will also be modified (von Robins & Rutter, 1990; Rutter, 1989, 1995; Bertalanffy, 1968). Sroufe & Jacobvitz, 1989). Additionally, it is Initial descriptions of equifinality emabelieved that there is heterogeneity among innated from work in embryology. For example, dividuals who develop a specific disorder the development of a normal organism was with respect to the features of their disturbshown to occur from a whole ovum, a divided ance, as well as among individuals who eviovum, or two fused ova. Further, it was demdence maladaptation but who do not develop onstrated that different initial sizes and differa disorder. In accord with this view, the prinent courses of growth can eventuate in the ciples of equifinality and multifinality derived same ultimate size of an organism (von Bertafrom general systems theory (von Bertalanffy, lanffy, 1968; Waddington, 1957). Within the 1968) are germane. discipline of developmental psychopathology, Equifinality refers to the observation that equifinality has been invoked to explain why in any open system (cf. Mayr, 1964, 1988) a a variety of developmental pathways may diversity of pathways, including chance eventuate in a given outcome, rather than exevents or what biologists refer to as nonlinear pecting a singular primary pathway to the adaptive or maladaptive outcome. Address correspondence to: Dr. Dante Cicchetti or Dr. T h e Principle of multifinality (Wilden, Fred A. Rogosch, Mt. Hope Family Center, Univ. of 1980) suggests that any one component may Rochester, 187 Edinburgh St., Rochester, NY 14608. function differently depending on the organi-

A Developmental Psychopathology Perspective on Child Abuse and Neglect

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this review is to conceptualize child abuse and neglect within a developmental psychopathology perspective. Toward this end, issues of definition and epidemiology, etiology, and sequelae are addressed. METHOD Research and theory on child abuse and neglect with relevance to a developmental perspective is reviewed. RESULTS Considerable progress has been made in our understanding of the etiology and consequences of child abuse and neglect. Less progress has been made in utilizing this knowledge to inform treatment efforts. CONCLUSIONS Incorporation of a developmental psychopathology perspective into efforts to understand and ameliorate the adverse effects of child abuse and neglect holds considerable promise for advancing research and intervention in the area of child maltreatment. The importance of providing comprehensive and coordinated services that incorporate knowledge of how maltreated youngsters negotiate stage-salient issues of development is stressed. The provision of child-focused treatment, parent-based models of intervention, and ecologically driven approaches to prevention all can benefit from an understanding of the adverse effects that maltreatment exerts on the process of development.

The development of depression in children and adolescents.

In recent decades, research on child and adolescent depression has proliferated. Currently, attention in the field is directed toward examining the epidemiology, causes, course, sequelae, and treatment response of children at risk for developing or presently experiencing depressive disorders. In this article, a developmental psychopathology approach is used to elucidate the development of depressive disorders, the diverse pathways that evolve, and the processes that contribute to varied outcomes. The developmental psychopathology perspective underscores the importance of moving beyond the identification of isolated aberrations in psychological and biological components of depressive presentations to the understanding of how those components have evolved and how they are integrated within and transact across biological, psychological, and social systems. Implications for prevention and intervention are addressed as is the importance of increasing the public awareness of depressive disorders and reducing the social stigma that interfere with the attainment of treatment for depressed persons.

Toward an ecological/transactional model of community violence and child maltreatment: consequences for children's development

In recent decades it has become increasingly apparent that violence affects a significant proportion of families in the United States (Bureau of Justice Statistics 1983). Violence, in fact, is becoming a defining characteristic of American society. A recent comparison of the rates of homicide among 21 developed nations indicates that the United States has the highest homicide rate in the world, and its rate is more than four times higher than the next highest rate (Fingerhut and Kleinman 1990). What is even more alarming is the high incidence of violent death and injury for children and adolescents in the United States. Acts of violence are the cause of death for over 2000 children between the ages of 0 and 19 years each year, and more than 1.5 million children and adolescents are abused by their adult caretakers each year (Christoffel 1990).

A developmental psychopathology perspective on adolescence.

Developmental psychopathology offers an integrative framework for conceptualizing the course of development during adolescence, with particular relevance for understanding continuity and the emergence of psychopathology during this and subsequent developmental periods. In this article, the utility of a developmental psychopathology perspective for informing the design of research, prevention, and intervention is highlighted. Interdisciplinary, organizational models of development, emphasizing the dynamic relations between the developing individual and internal and external contexts, are discussed. Examination of boundaries between abnormal and normal development during adolescence offers important vantage points for articulating diversity in the developmental course during this period. Conceptualizing divergence and convergence in developmental pathways, continuity and discontinuity in development, and the transactions of risk and protective processes leading to maladaptation, psychopathology, and resilience are highlighted.

Emotion regulation among school-age children: the development and validation of a new criterion Q-sort scale.

To foster the study of emotion regulation beyond infancy and toddlerhood, a new criterion Q-sort was constructed. In Study 1, Q-scales for emotion regulation and autonomy were developed, and analyses supported their discriminant validity. Study 2 further explored the construct validity of the Emotion Regulation Q-Scale within a sample of 143 maltreated and 80 impoverished children, aged 6 to 12 years. A multitrait-multimethod matrix and confirmatory factor analyses indicated impressive convergence among the Emotion Regulation Q-Scale and established measures of affect regulation. This new scale also was discriminable from measures of related constructs, including Q-sort assessments of ego resiliency. The use of this new measure was further supported by its ability to distinguish between maltreated and comparison children and between groups of well-regulated versus dysregulated children.

An ecological-transactional analysis of children and contexts: The longitudinal interplay among child maltreatment, community violence, and children's symptomatology

Cicchetti and Lynch have conceptualized ecological contexts as consisting of nested levels with varying degrees of proximity to the individual. These levels of the environment interact and transact with each other over time in shaping individual development and adaptation. With a sample of maltreated (n = 188) and nonmaltreated (n = 134) children between the ages of 7 and 12 years, this investigation employed a 1-year longitudinal design to conduct an ecological-transactional analysis of the mutual relationships among community violence, child maltreatment, and childrens functioning over time. Indicators of childrens functioning were externalizing and internalizing behavior problems and self-rated traumatic stress reactions, depressive symptomatology, and self-esteem. Either full or partial support was obtained for the studys primary hypotheses. Rates of maltreatment, particularly physical abuse, were related to levels of child-reported violence in the community. In addition, child maltreatment and exposure to community violence were related to different aspects of childrens functioning. Specific effects were observed for neglect and sexual abuse and for witnessing and being victimized by violence in the community. Finally, there was evidence that children and their contexts mutually influence each other over time. Results were discussed within the framework of an ecological-transactional model of development.