Resilience in the Context of Development: Introduction to the Special Issue

Abstract

As an introduction to this special issue, we define resilience as the capacity of a dynamic system to adapt successfully to threatening circumstances, and we briefly note the history of resilience studies as embedded within the broader field of developmental science. We then elaborate on four developmental principles central for the study of resilience and highlight the importance of early adolescence as a developmental period of particular opportunity for change. Finally, we introduce the five articles of this special issue, each of which presents exciting new work on resilience processes during early adolescence and speaks to aspects of core developmental principles of resilience science.