Resilience as a construct is hard to define. In simplest terms, resilience can be described as a quality that makes one, particularly a child, exceptionally resistant to the negative effects of stress.(Tolan, 1996) However, in reality, characterizing resilience is much more complicated; the literature on trauma alone has at least 8 unique definitions for resilience.(Barber & Doty, 2013) Unsurprisingly, the unclear nature of resilience is one of the many arguments that are used to demonstrate its potential lack of utility in the study of child psychopathology. In “How Resilient is the Concept of Resilience”, Dr. Patrick Tolan (1996) provides further detail of the problems with resilience as a construct, and all but states that it is not a significant
…show more content…
Tolan highlights three primary problems with the use of resilience in child developmental psychology. For one, as previously described, the countless definitions for resilience are inconsistent, which results in little distinction between resilience and other terms that may provide clearer characterizations of child development (e.g. protective factors). Furthermore, Tolan argues that resilience is not seen commonly enough in children to truly be a powerful tool to reduce the negative impacts of stress in children at the community level. Finally, Dr. Tolan contends that resilience does not have the ability to facilitate the creation of interventions and policies that would reduce the harmful effects of stress on …show more content…
For one, consideration of resilience in interventions may influence the means by which crisis debriefing is conducted. (Townsend, 2016) Tolan contends that the current focus of resilience research is to identify these characteristics and potentially develop a means to instruct others in building resilience during stressful situations. While Tolan provides strong evidence against this approach, identifying persons and populations with more resilience can facilitate more targeted strategies for crisis debriefing.(Barber & Doty, 2013) This may include placing more emphasis on the unique perspectives of individuals and identifying persons who have less resilience that may require different approaches for crisis debriefing. (Barber & Doty,
Tolan highlights three primary problems with the use of resilience in child developmental psychology. For one, as previously described, the countless definitions for resilience are inconsistent, which results in little distinction between resilience and other terms that may provide clearer characterizations of child development (e.g. protective factors). Furthermore, Tolan argues that resilience is not seen commonly enough in children to truly be a powerful tool to reduce the negative impacts of stress in children at the community level. Finally, Dr. Tolan contends that resilience does not have the ability to facilitate the creation of interventions and policies that would reduce the harmful effects of stress on …show more content…
For one, consideration of resilience in interventions may influence the means by which crisis debriefing is conducted. (Townsend, 2016) Tolan contends that the current focus of resilience research is to identify these characteristics and potentially develop a means to instruct others in building resilience during stressful situations. While Tolan provides strong evidence against this approach, identifying persons and populations with more resilience can facilitate more targeted strategies for crisis debriefing.(Barber & Doty, 2013) This may include placing more emphasis on the unique perspectives of individuals and identifying persons who have less resilience that may require different approaches for crisis debriefing. (Barber & Doty,