It is an evolving concept, so it is not possible to include it in a single definition; we will mention four of the most significant:
"Resilience has been characterized as a set of social and intrapsychic processes that make it possible to have a healthy life in an unhealthy environment. These processes are carried out over time, giving good combinations between the child's attributes and family, social and cultural environment. Thus, resilience cannot be thought of as an attribute that children are born with or that children acquire during their development, but rather it is a process that characterizes a complex social system, at a certain point in time "(Rutter, 1992).
"The human capacity to face, overcome and be strengthened or transformed by experiences of adversity" (Grotberg, 2001).
"Dynamic process that results in positive adaptation in contexts of great adversity" (Luthard, 2000) 9.
"A human condition that gives people the ability to overcome adversity and also build on them. It is understood as a dynamic process that results in positive adaptation, even in contexts of great adversity" (Suarez Ojeda, 2004 ) 10.HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONCEPT OF RESILIENCE
In the historical development of the concept of resilience, according to the work of Lic. Francisca Infante, we distinguish two generations.
First Generation
The first generation started with an interest in the personal qualities that allowed them to overcome adversity, such as self-esteem and autonomy, towards a greater interest in studying factors external to the individual, such as socio-economic level, family structure, presence of a significant adult. This generation can be represented with the triadic model of resilience.
Temperamental and genetic characteristics constitute the basis on which environmental and social factors act. Recent studies estimate that 30% of psychological attributes are genetically based, and on this basis, education and upbringing act through:
The acquisition of action-oriented skills: attention, social skills, the anticipation of the future, emotional attention, problem-solving, creative expression.
In all these verbalizations, the different resilience factors appear. These verbs can be explained in the following way: As educators or health workers, we can promote resilience if we try to increase the situations that produce these verbalizations in each child.
Pillars of Resilience
It has been possible to identify some characteristics that appear more frequently in those with resilience conditions. These conditions are known as the pillars of resilience.
The different authors have selected many important characteristics within those observed in their research with resilient people. We will mention those highlighted by Suárez Ojeda, with whom we agree and consider a more successful selection.
Introspection is the art of asking yourself and giving an honest answer.
Independence knows how to set limits between oneself and the environment with problems, and it is the ability to maintain emotional and physical distance without falling into isolation.
The ability to relate is the ability to establish ties and intimacy with other people to compensate for one’s own need for affection and the possibility of giving oneself to others.
The initiative is the possibility of demanding yourself and testing yourself in progressively more demanding tasks. Humour is the ability to find comedy in tragedy itself, to see the funny side of adversity.
Creativity is the ability to create order and beauty out of chaos and disorder.
Morality is the consequence of extending the personal desire for well-being to all humanity and the ability to commit to values. Give the other the place of a legitimate other. This element is vital from the age of 10.
A crucial aspect is the ability to develop skills to build resilience. This is an excellent field of research that is being promoted worldwide, especially in developing countries. It is a fundamental theme for psycho-pedagogical research.
The pillars of resilience have been categorized and grouped into four main components, whose observation allows designing profiles of children in terms of their resilience; these encompass the most frequent attributes associated with successful life experiences, that is why we consider them as the essential elements in the profile.
Do you sometimes feel like you are climbing a mountain every day, and every morning when you wake up, the same mountain is in front of you?
Lucy Hone is Director of the New Zealand Institute of Wellbeing and Resilience.
According to the RAE, resilience is the ability of a living being to adapt to a disturbing agent or an adverse state or situation.
In that, Hone is an expert and not only because of her studies and professional career but because her resilience was put to the test most painfully in 2014.
These are her words.
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Opening quotes
“My little Abi, who was 12 at the time, went for a walk with her best friend Ella, and Ella’s mother, who was also a very dear friend of mine.
A driver accelerated instead of braking at a stop sign on the way back, crashed into them and killed them at three.
That is why I have a particular insight into resilience: I had done the academic studies, looked at all the research on the subject, but then I had to test what works in an authentic and personal way.
And I can say that now I feel fortunate because thanks to all that training, at least I had some tools on hand when the worst happened.
But I want to make a significant point clear here.
Too often, people think of resilience as personal, but in fact, we know it is much bigger than that.
