Table 2.

Studies of children from low SES backgrounds or multiple risks

Authors	Sample	Design	Risk	Protective factors	Outcome	Results
Bradley et al. (1994)	N = 243	Longitudinal (birth—age 3)	Low-income	Physical aspects of caregiving environment	Cognitive and behavioral competence; health and growth status at age 3	12% highest risk vs. 40% non-poverty children had positive outcomes
	Age 3		Preterm
	85% ethnic minority		Low birthweight	Parental acceptance and responsivity		Only 15% have good outcomes with >3 protective factors
	Preterm, low birthweight infants living in poverty				Normal range on all four measures
Buckner et al. (2003)	N = 155	Cross-sectional	Low-income	IQ, self-regulatory skills, self-esteem, social support, & parental monitoring,	Composite including behavior problems, mental health symptoms, adaptive functioning, & competence	29% resilient
	Ages 8−17					Nonresilient children had more negative events, chronic stressors, and abuse
	35% white
	Low-income families in Worchester, MA					Resilient did not differ from nonresilient on social support or IQ
Cicchetti et al. (1993)	N = 206	Cross-sectional	Maltreatment	Ego control	7 measures of adaptive functioning	Resilient = 18%
	Ages 8−13		Low SES	Ego resiliency		Maltreated more disruptive/aggressive, withdrawn, internalizing, and lower overall competence, lower IQ and ego resiliency
	69% ethnic minority, 59% below poverty line, 83% on public assistance			Self-esteem	Adaptive composite
				IQ
						Number of maltreated in resilient group = nonmaltreated, but more maltreated in lower functioning groups too
Cicchetti et al. (1997)	N = 213	Longitudinal (over 3 years)	Maltreatment	Ego control	7 measures of adaptive functioning	Replicated above results. Resilience over 3 years = 1.5%. 10% maltreated had no indicators of competence at any timepoint
	Ages 6−11		Low SES	Ego resiliency
	81% ethnic minority, 87% on public assistance			Self-esteem	Adaptive composite
				IQ		Relationship factors important for nonmaltreated only
			Relationship quality with mother and camp counselor
Cicchetti et al. (2007)	N = 677	Cross-sectional	Maltreatment	Ego control	7 measures of adaptive functioning	Maltreated resilience = 6.1%. Nonmaltreated resilience = 11.8%
	Ages 6−12		Low SES	Ego resiliency
	81% ethnic minority, 94.8% had received public assistance			Cortisol	Adaptive composite
				DHEA		All protective factors independently predicted resilience
Fergusson et al. (1994)	N = 942	Longitudinal (birth—age 15)	Cumulative risk score	N/A	Multiple problem outcomes (early sexual activity, conduct/oppositional disorder, police contact for offending, cannabis use, alcohol use)	Only 13% of adolescents from 5% most disadvantaged childhoods were problem-free
	Age 15
	Birth cohort from Christchurch, NZ					Chances of children from advantaged backgrounds having multiple problems was 1 in every 400−500
Fergusson et al. (1996)	N = 940	Longitudinal (birth—age 16)	Cumulative risk score	Child protective factors: IQ, emotional/behavioral problems, temperament, interests, close relationships	Substance use	37% resilient
	Age 16				Delinquency	Resilient children did not differ from maladjusted on internalizing symptoms
	Birth cohort from Christchurch, NZ				School problems
				Family protective factors: Parenting, parental attachment, home environment		Lower family adversity
						Main effects for IQ, novelty seeking, deviant peer affiliation
Luthar et al. (2007)	N = 360	Cross-sectional	Maternal diagnosis of affective disorder or drug use disorder	Negative parenting behavior	Average social competence	7−21% resilient
	Ages 8−17			Limit setting	Internalizing & externalizing symptomatology	23% resilient if no maternal diagnosis
	2/3 ethnic minority			Closeness		Negative parenting most assoc w/ neg child outcomes
	Approximately 50% on welfare			Low parenting stress
			Low SES
Seifer et al. (1992)	N = 152	Longitudinal (ages 4−13)	Cumulative risk score	Child and mother personality disposition, social support, and family cohesion	Changes scores from ages 4−13 on IQ and socio-emotional indices	Only 3/50 high risk kids above sample mean at age 13
	Age 13
	∼50% low SES, ∼60% white					Most protective factors supported across risk status
	Subsample of Rochester Longitudinal Study					Some interactions suggesting more importance in the context of risk
Stouthamer-Loeber et al. (2004)	N = 506	Longitudinal (ages 13−25)	Serious persistent delinquency in adolescence	Low physical punishment	Absence of serious persistent delinquency at follow-up	40% resilient
	Age 25			Employed or in school		However, 56% of those individuals continued to offended at lower rates
	∼50% African American
	∼40% on public assistance					Showing difficulties in other domains too
Werner et al. (1982, 1992)	N = 505	Longitudinal (birth to middle adulthood)	Cumulative risk score	Child protective factors: e.g., temperament, IQ	Delinquency	26% resilient
	Predominantly ethnic minority				Mental health problems	Many child and family protective factors
				Family protective factors: e.g., parent–child relationship quality, parenting	Judgment of "doing well" across domains
	54% poverty					Rates of somatic & physical complaints 2× higher for "resilient" group
	1955 Kauai birth cohort