Resilience in childhood and adolescence

Resilience is conceptualized as a dynamic or compensatory process of positive adaption despite significant adversity. Both aspects, the positive outcome and the threat side, warrant careful consideration. Some essential conceptual and methodological problems have to be resolved to make the concept of resilience helpful for developmental psychopathology and prevention. Thus, the label "resilience promoting" should only be applied to those factors that exert their effects only or especially in the presence of threat, have a buffering effect, exist prior to the risk, and are able to moderate its impact.