Assets - Resiliency
Assets - Resiliency
• • • • • Resiliency
Resiliency means being able to withstand hardship, repair yourself, bounce back, and grow. A resilient person copes with stressful things in life and becomes stronger as a result.In 1955, Emmy Werner and a team of researchers went to the Hawaiian island of Kauai to learn why some children there thrived, even in difficult situations, while other children in the same situations failed. They followed almost 700 children for 40 years. They found that the kids who succeeded against the odds had protective factors that let them cope with their tough situations. The researchers named this coping ability resiliency.
In other parts of the world, Norman Garmezy and Michael Rutter were also looking at resiliency. They studied children who were at risk for mental illness and children who grew up poor. They found conditions or protective factors in these children’s lives that helped them to be strong and capable.
• • • For children, protective factors (or assets)
are like the self-righting tendencies of a heavy keel on a boat. No matter what the seas, calm or stormy, the boat keeps its balance because of its keel.
Assets Home Page
Assets Framework Page
The Assets project is sponsored by the Association of Alaska School Boards and Alaska's Department of Health and Social Services, Division of Public Health.
This Web site sponsored by The Alaska Transition Initiative, with services from the Special Education Service Agency.
