Resilience in Science and Practice: Progress and Promise

Dr. Masten will highlight recent advances in research on resilience in human development and their implications for practice, including reflections on human adaptation during the pandemic. She will describe contemporary definitions of resilience that underscore multisystem processes and the importance of defining resilience for scalability across system levels (from neurobiological and individual levels to community and global socioecological levels) and portability across disciplines concerned with human well-being in diverse cultures. Resilience refers to the capacity of a system (child, family, community, economy, etc.) to adapt successfully to challenges that threaten the function, survival, or development of the system. Individual resilience depends on interactions among multiple systems and particularly relationships and social support, together with resources and opportunities. This perspective on resilience has gained salience for multiple reasons, including the infusion of systems theory into developmental psychopathology and the necessity of integrating knowledge on resilience from different disciplines to address mass-trauma threats such as pandemics, war, or natural disasters. Dr. Masten will highlight the alignment of findings in research on resilience in children, families, and communities, the transdiagnostic significance of protective processes, and implications of resilience models for practice and policy. Exciting new directions for integrated research and practice and intriguing questions for future research will be delineated.

Upon completion of this session, participants should be better able to:

1. Define resilience from a multisystem perspective for scalability and collaboration across disciplines
2. Apply a resilience framework for research and for practice
3. Describe emerging directions of research on resilience

This session is at the intermediate level and is designed for psychologists and other mental health professionals.

The Minnesota Psychological Association is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The Minnesota Psychological Association maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

If you need accommodations to make this event accessible, please notify the MPA office at (952) 928-4657 or info@mnpsych.org.