Global Perspectives on Resilience in Children and Youth

Ann Masten, Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, wrote this article for the journal Child Development. It is based on the Presidential Address at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, in Seattle, April 19, 2013.

The development of children around the world is threatened by disasters, political violence, pandemics, and other adversities that can have life-altering consequences for individuals, families, and the future of all societies. The beginning of the 21st century was punctuated by a terrifying sequence of events affecting large numbers of victims across the world. These include 9/11 and subsequent terror attacks, Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy, the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean triggered by one of the largest earthquakes in human history, the BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the 2008 earthquake in China, HIN1 flu, and the triple disaster of 2011 in Japan of earthquake, tsunami, and meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Reports from the United Nations (UN) indicate that tens of millions of children each year are exposed to disasters and conflicts, and many are displaced as a result (UNHCR, 2010; UNICEF, 2011, 2012). Millions more suffer abuse or neglect from caregivers (Cicchetti, 2013b) and sex trafficking or other forms of exploitation (Hartjen & Priyadarsini, 2012).

These well-publicized adversities have raised global concerns about dangers posed to children as well as the future of societies, while also highlighting a lack of preparedness to handle such calamities. These concerns have spurred renewed attention to resilience across many fields of research as governments and international agencies search for evidence and guidance on what helps to mitigate risk and promote resistance or recovery in the face of these threats to human life. Developmental science is well positioned to contribute to and benefit from a more integrated and global science of resilience.

In this article, I invite the reader to consider two related questions: Why is a new wave of global research on resilience important for developmental science? and Why is developmental science important for global resilience? A brief history of resilience research in child development is highlighted first, including major accomplishments and critiques. Subsequently, I describe the maturation of developmental resilience science, progress toward a global knowledge base on resilience in children and youth, and enduring controversies. The conclusion offers some preliminary answers to the two questions, describes signs of globalization in the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), and issues a call to action for developmental scientists.