Why are some children able to overcome adverse circumstances such as poverty, war, or abusive parents and become competent individuals, while others are defeated by their difficult circumstances?

In a word, resiliency.

Resiliency is characterized by the capacity to not only survive but also set a positive life course. Researchers also describe resiliency in terms of a person’s strengths and competencies evidenced by good peer relationships, academic achievement, and a commitment to life goals.

The fact that many children of schizophrenic parents did not develop psychopathology as predicted but thrived intrigued researchers such as James Anthony, M.D., and Norman Garmezy, Ph.D., who are considered pioneers in the field of resiliency research.

Resilient children who are poorly parented due to a variety of factors, such as mental illness, substance abuse, or parental absence, are able to enlist the support of a caring adult to serve as a mother or father figure, according to Bertram Cohler, M.D., a researcher on resiliency across the life span and a professor of psychiatry and psychology at the University of Chicago.

"The child who is more engaged in the world and has some personal charm is more likely to interest adults in providing this supportive function," said Cohler, who discussed Anthony’s contributions to the field of resiliency research at last month’s meeting of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in Chicago.

For example, in Cohler’s 1987 study of children of mothers with schizophrenia and unipolar depression, the son of a depressed woman and absent father with several younger siblings turned to Boy Scouting and ultimately rose to the rank of Eagle Scout. He was also able to forge an important relationship with his scoutmaster, who took a personal interest in him, said Cohler.

"This boy was able to extricate himself from his mother’s distress and make a life for himself outside of his troubled family," said Cohler.

Other traits that enhance resiliency in children are intelligence and a reflective temperament, which facilitate the ability to see different perspectives, plan, be creative, and maintain a sense of humor, according to Cohler.

Resilient children are also able to look beyond their present misfortunes, have realistic goals, and maintain a commitment to them in spite of bleak circumstances, said Cohler.

A striking aspect of children who lived in European ghettos during World War II and whose diaries have been found, the most notable belonging to Anne Frank, was their ability to maintain a vision of personal and collective goals even when confronted by an uncertain future, said Cohler.

Anthony was among the first to raise questions about risk and vulnerability. He coined the term "invulnerable" to describe the capacity to overcome adversity, said Cohler, who wrote a book with Anthony called The Invulnerable Child published in 1987 by Guilford Press.

Cohler clarified that "invulnerable" does not mean absolute psychological resilience, as some have implied, "but resilience that is relative to the interplay of personal and community resources and present adverse circumstances."

Cohler elaborated that people’s ability to cope with adversity may change over time. "For each of us there is a point beyond which we are unable to cope with adversity. This could be one particular unexpected adverse event, such as the death of a spouse or an offspring, or the pile up of numerous afflictions," said Cohler.

As Anthony observed in the book, the concept of invulnerability represented an optimistic rather than a pessimistic bias in the study of developmental psychopathology. Cohler explained that researchers have been more interested in risks, deficits, and pathology rather than in people’s capacity for positive development and change.

Cohler commented, "It’s a question of seeing the glass half empty or half full."

Anthony and other researchers not only questioned earlier assumptions regarding factors leading to the onset of psychopathology, but they also called for less research on antecedents of psychopathology and more on "so-called protective factors that lessen the potential harmful effects of adverse life circumstances."

Knowing what factors enhance resiliency allows researchers to design interventions for children experiencing adversity with the goal of preventing psychopathology.

"We need more long-term studies to know whether these interventions have lasting effects and whether resiliency is maintained. We also need to learn whether resilient children pay a price later for their adverse circumstances."

Some researchers studying resiliency are concerned that it is defined in terms of behavioral success. They want resiliency to be judged in terms of externalizing and internalizing difficulties. They note that internalizing problems and depression, which are more common in girls, can cause profound interpersonal difficulties especially in childrearing and marriage.