In a time of increasing exposure to personal psychological stress, as well as war, natural disasters, and economic upheaval, positive development under adversity―resilience―is meriting wider and deeper study. Despite this attention and over four decades’ worth of robust literature, resilience remains difficult to define and even harder to measure.
Taking the view that resilience is a process to be developed and nurtured rather than a hard-wired capacity of the individual, The Social Ecology of Resilience explains how interactions with school, family, community, and culture can provide ingredients for positive development. Case studies representing international and cross-disciplinary perspectives (e.g., Aboriginal youth in Australia, refugees in Sudan, and gay teens in the U.S.) demonstrate resilience across cultures and the lifespan. And interviews with healers and activists who have themselves survived trauma reveal resilience as a set of processes that can be both learned and taught.
Featured in the coverage:
- Causal pathways and how social ecologies influence resilience.
- Situating resilience in developmental contexts.
- Fostering recovery, sustainability, and growth in traumatized communities.
- Resources that promote resilient parenting.
- Children with disabilities and the supportive school.
- Indigenous perspectives on resilience.
The up-to-date data and real-world viewpoints in The Social Ecology of Resilience will be of great interest to those working with this elusive concept, including social workers, psychologists, students and professors in family relations, and researchers in social policy.
About the Author
Michael Ungar, Ph.D. is the author of 9 books and more than 70 articles and book chapters. His works include The We Generation:Raising Socially Responsible Kids, Too Safe for Their Own Good: How Risk and Responsibility Help Teens Thrive, Counseling in Challenging Contexts,and Strengths-based Counseling with At-risk Youth. He has practiced for over 25 years as a Social Worker and Marriage and Family Therapist with children and families in child welfare, mental health, educational and correctional settings. Now a University Research Professor, and Professor at the School of Social Work, at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, he leads an international team of resilience researchers that spans more than a dozen countries on six continents. In addition to his research and writing interests, Dr. Ungar maintains a small family therapy practice for troubled children, youth and their families.
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