Table 3.

Studies of resilience across time

Authors	Sample	Design	Risk	Protective factors	Outcome	Results
Farrington et al. (1988a, b)	N = 411 males	Longitudinal (ages 8−32)	Cumulative risk score	N/A	Nine criteria of competent functioning (e.g., successful employment, cohabitation, absence of deviant behavior, etc.)	50% of "resilient" adolescents convicted of a crime by age 32
	Age 32
	Working-class London families					Unconvicted high-risk men often had the worst outcomes
Farber et al. (1987)	N = 44 maltreated	Longitudinal (12−48 mos)	Maltreatment Low SES	Infant temperament and behavior	Developmental competence (e.g., attachment, problem-solving, behavior)	Low continuity of resilience (none consistently competent from 12 to 48 mos)
	N = 88 non-maltreated			Parental characteristics, parenting knowledge, parent–child interaction quality, life stress
	Age 48 mos
	Low SES					Decrease in competence over time
	Subsample of children from the Minnesota Mother–Child Interaction Project
						Some protective factors overall, but not for abused children
Felsman et al. (1987)	N = 456 non-delinquent, inner city, adolescent males	Longitudinal (ages 12−16 to middle adulthood)	Low SES	Childhood strengths: e.g., relationship quality with family members, school/social adjustment, physical health, IQ, etc.	Global mental health in middle adulthood (e.g., social competence, employment, happy marriage, income)	Anecdotal evidence of "enormous discontinuity" in competence over the lifespan
	Recruited 1940−1944
	Low SES
	Matched w/ reform school boys on IQ, age, neighborhood crime rate, ethnicity		Adulthood strengths: e.g., object relations, Erickson's life stage, maturity of defenses, SES, etc.
Jaffee et al. (2007)	N = 1,167 twin pairs	Longitudinal (ages 5−7)	Retrospective parental report of childhood maltreatment	IQ	At or below the median on teacher-reported behavior problems at ages 5 and 7	25% resilient
	Ages 5 and 7			Positive temperament		Doing well across domains
	UK representative sample			Absence of parental psychiatric symptoms		1/3 of resilient children at age 5 not resilient at age 7
				Neighborhood safety & cohesion
Masten et al. (2004)	N = 173	Longitudinal (ages 8−12 to 28−36)	Life events	IQ	Age-appropriate competence (e.g., academic achievement, social competence, conduct)	Continuity in resilience
	Ages 28−36			Parenting quality		Resilient children had more protective factors, higher SES
	73% white			Adapative resources (e.g., coping, motivation, support)
	Normative school sample					Childhood/adol adversity only modestly associated with young adult success
Moffitt et al. (2002)	N = 477 males	Longitudinal (ages 5−26)	Antisocial behavior in childhood and/or adolescence	N/A	Criminal offending	25% of adolescent "recoveries" exhibited illegal behavior
	Age 26				Personality
	Predominantly white				Psychopathology
	Birth cohort from Dunedin, NZ				Personal life	Resilient group high on internalizing, social isolation, etc.
				Economic life
Sameroff et al. (1987, 1993)	N = 152	Longitudinal (ages 4−13)	Cumulative risk score	N/A	Measures of child functioning (e.g., IQ, language development, behavior, etc.)	High stability of risk over time
	Age 13
	∼50% low SES, ∼60% white					Child ability severely undermined by environmental risk
	Subsample of Rochester Longitudinal Study