Woolworths

Child Abuse & Neglect 31 (2007) 205–209

Commentary

Resilience, competence, and coping
Michael Rutter
PO 80, SGDP Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF, UK Available online 3 April 2007

A universal finding in all studies of both physical and psychosocial adversity is that there is huge heterogeneity in outcome (Rutter, 2006a, 2006c). This is not just a reflection of measurement error, or even of multifactorial causation, because the marked individual differences in response are found in experimental, as well as naturalistic, studies and they are evident in controlled animal experiments as well as in human studies. The awareness that this is so has led to the concept of “resilience,” meaning the phenomenon that some individuals have a relatively good outcome despite suffering risk experiences that would be expected to bring about serious sequelae. In other words, it implies relative resistance to environmental risk experiences, or the overcoming of stress or adversity (Rutter, 2006a, 2006c). It follows that the concept differs fundamentally from both social competence (Masten, Burt, & Coatsworth, 2006) and positive mental health (Layard, 2005). It also follows that “resilience” involves an inference based on findings concerning individual differences in response to stress or adversity. It is not, and cannot be, an observed trait. People may be resilient in relation to some kinds of environmental hazards but not others. Equally, they may be resilient with respect to some outcomes, but not all. Three other considerations also need to shape studies of resilience. First, it is evident that the overcoming of stress or adversity may depend on experiences following the risk exposure; this indicates that a life span perspective is necessary. Resilience cannot be reduced to what is involved in the chemistry of the moment of exposure. Second, resilience cannot be equated with individual psychological traits,

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