Childhood resilience is the phenomenon of positive adaptation despite significant life adversities. While interest in resilience has burgeoned in recent years, considerable uncertainty remains regarding what research has revealed about this phenomenon. Integrated in this book are contributions from leading scientists who have studied children's adjustment across risks common in contemporary society. Chapters in the first half of the book focus on risks emanating from the family, and in the second half, on risks stemming from the wider community. The concluding chapter integrates the evidence presented to determine considerations for future research, and directions for interventions and social policies.

1. A resilience framework for research, policy, and practice: contributions from Project Competence Ann S. Masten and Jenifer L. Powell; Part I. Familial Adversities: Parental Psychopathology and Family Processes: 2. Young children with mentally ill parents: resilient developmental systems Ronald Seifer; 3. Risk and protective factors for children of depressed parents Constance Hammen; 4. Resilience and vulnerability among sons of alcoholics: relationship to developmental outcomes between early childhood and adolescence Robert A. Zucker, Maria W. Wong, Leon I. Puttler, and Hiram E. Fitzgerald; 5. Maternal drug abuse versus other psychological disturbances: risks and resilience among children Suniya S. Luthar, Karen D'Avanzo and Sarah Hites; 6. Resilience to childhood adversity: results of a 21 year study David M. Fergusson and L. John Horwood; 7. Sequelae of child maltreatment: vulnerability and resilience Kerry E. Bolger and Charlotte J. Patterson; 8. Risk and resilience in children coping with their parents' divorce and remarriage E. Mavis Hetherington and Anne Mitchell Elmore; 9. Correlational and experimental study of resilience for children of divorce and parentally bereaved children Irwin Sandler, Sharlene Wolchik, Caroline Davis, Rachel Haine and Tim Ayers; Part II. Exosystemic and Sociodemographic Risks: 10. Rethinking resilience: a developmental process perspective Tuppett M. Yates, Byron Egeland and L. Alan Sroufe; 11. Poverty and early childhood adjustment Elizabeth B. Owens and Daniel S. Shaw; 12. Emerging perspectives on context-specificity of children's adaptation and resilience: evidence from a decade of research with urban children in adversity Peter A. Wyman; 13. Holistic, contextual perspectives on risk, protection, and competence among low-income urban adolescents Edward Seidman and Sara Pedersen; 14. Overcoming the odds? Adolescent development in the context of urban poverty Ana Mari Cauce, Angela Stewart, Melanie Domenech Rodriguez, Bryan Cochran, and Joshua Ginzler; 15. Adaptation among youth facing multiple risks: prospective research findings Arnold Sameroff, Leslie Gutman and Steve C. Peck; 16. Positive adaptation among youth exposed to community violence Deborah Gorman-Smith and Patrick H. Tolan; 17. Perceived discrimination and resilience Laura A. Szalacha, Sumru Erkut, Cynthia García Coll, Jacqueline P. Fields, Odette Alarcón and Ineke Ceder; 18. Promoting resilience through early childhood intervention Arthur J. Reynolds and Suh-Ruu Ou; Part III. Commentaries: 19. Toward building a better brain: neurobehavioral outcomes, mechanisms, and processes of environmental enrichment John W. Curtis and Charles A. Nelson; 20. Genetic influences on risk and protection: implications for understanding resilience Michael Rutter; 21. Resilience and vulnerability: an integrative review Suniya S. Luthar and Laurel Bidwell Zelazo.