Resilience Research

The National Resilience Resource Center's operating philosophy is grounded in resilience research which spans more than five decades across a wide variety of disciplines. There are key questions for each phase of NRRC systems change work. First, "Are all children, youth, and adults at promise?" If so, "What are the conditions of empowerment that research and best practice support?" Then, "What program models and approaches will create these conditions?" Finally, "What results can we realistically expect for children, youth, adults, and communities who learn to tap their natural resilience?"

Unlike most prevention planning frameworks based on problem-focused needs assessment and external strategies or solutions, the foundation for systems change tapping resilience is planners’ beliefs about healthy human functioning and supporting research evidence. Frequently, NRRC work points to the need for a new and emerging resilience research agenda to address internal as well as external protective factors, mechanisms, and processes.

Major sources of resilience research are presented here.

Marshall, K. (2004). Resilience research and practice: National resilience resource center bridging the gap. In H. C. Waxman, Y. N. Padron and J. Gray (Eds.). Educational Resiliency: Student, Teacher, and School Perspectives. Greenwich, CN: Information Age Publishing. Order: order@infoagepub.com or 203-661-7952 (fax).

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	The Carter Center, Promoting Positive & Healthy Behaviors in Children
	U.S. Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, Central CAPT, Resilience Research for Prevention Programs
	University of Minnesota, CAREI, Research and Practice
	Seminal Papers by Bonnie Benard from NRRC:, The Case for Peers (December 1990); Moving Toward a Just and Vital Culture: Multiculturalism in Our Schools (April 1991); Fostering Resiliency in Kids: Protective Factors in the Family, School and Community, (August 1991); Mentoring Programs for Urban Youth: Handle with Care (1992); Turning the Corner: From Risk to Resilience (updated 2004)

The Carter Center

The NRRC research base is best summarized in "Reculturing Systems with Resilience/Health Realization," by NRRC Executive Director, Kathy Marshall, in a 1998 publication of The Carter Center, Promoting Positive and Healthy Behaviors in Children.

The Carter Center has granted NRRC permission to post the entire publication exclusively on this NRRC site. Related, supportive articles by nationally known children’s mental health and youth development experts are included. Authors are Rosalynn Carter, William Foege, David Hamburg, Tammy Mann, David Weikart, Roger Weissberg, Martin Seligman, Peter Benson, Kathy Marshall, Tamara Halle, Marc Bornstein, and John Gates.

Entire Publication:

Carter Center, Promoting Positive and Healthy Behavior in Children

Individual Articles:

Promoting Positive and Healthy Behavior in Children, Opening Remarks, Rosalynn Carter
Reculturing Systems with Resilience/Health Realization, Kathy Marshall, M.A.
The Value of Positive Outcomes, William H. Foege, M.D.
A Developmental Strategy for Lifelong Benefit, David A. Hamburg, M.D.
Zero to Three, Tammy L. Mann, Ph.D.
The Case for Early Education, David P. Weikart, Ph.D.
Healthy Children 2010: Next Steps?, Roger Weissberg, Ph.D.
The Epidemic of Depression Among American Youth, Martin E.P. Seligman, Ph.D.
Uniting Communities to Promote Child and Adolescent Development, Peter L. Benson, Ph.D.
Creating Indicators of Positive Development, Tamara Halle, Ph.D. and Kristin Moore, Ph.D.
Young Children and Positive Characteristics, Marc H. Bornstein, Ph.D.
Post-Script Recommended Developmental Objective for Healthy People 2010, John J. Gates, Ph.D.

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Center for the Application of Prevention Technology (CAPT)

NRRC collaborated with the U.S. Center for Substance Abuse Prevention's (CSAP) Central Center for the Application of Prevention Technology (CAPT) in providing a series of practitioner-friendly resilience research summaries. Marshall's lead article, "Bridging the Resilience Gap," published by Central CAPT in 2001, explains NRRC’s prevention conceptual framework. These papers are part of the National Resilience Resource Center's effort to bring resilience research into everyday practice. One free copy of this informational series is available from NRRC; bulk quantities may be purchased for minimal cost. Call 612-624-1693 for details. The Resilience Research for Prevention Programs Series includes:

Bridging the Resilience Gap: Research to Practice
By Kathy Marshall on the need to develop useful connections between resilience research and prevention practice.

Adventure Education: Making a Lasting Difference
By Bonnie Benard and Kathy Marshall on adventure education meta-analysis by John Hattie and others.

Big Brothers/Big Sisters Mentoring: The Power of Developmental Relationships
By Bonnie Bernard and Kathy Marshall on Big Brothers/Big Sisters mentoring studies of Joseph Tierney, Kristine Morrow, and others.

Competence and Resilience Research Lessons for Prevention
By Bonnie Benard and Kathy Marshall on competence development research of Ann Masten and J. Douglas Coatsworth.

Meta-Analyses Provide Decade of Evidence: Effective School-Based Drug Prevention Programs
By Bonnie Benard and Kathy Marshall on school-based drug prevention programs meta-analyses of Nan Tobler and others.

Protective Factors in Individuals, Families, and Schools: National Longitudinal Study on Adolescent Health
By Bonnie Benard and Kathy Marshall on adolescent health study of Michael Resnick, Robert Blum, and others.

Opportunities for Child-Initiated Learning: Long Term Follow-Up Studies of Preschool Programs
By Bonnie Bernard and Kathy Marshall on High Scope/Perry Preschool studies by Larry Schweinhart, David Weikart, and others.

Free copy of NRRC Resilience Research for Prevention Programs publication series!
Send a self-addressed No. 2 (9x12) envelope stamped with $2.50 to University of Minnesota College of Continuing Education, National Resilience Resource Center, 20 Classroom Office Building, 1994 Buford Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108-6039.

Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement (CAREI)

Additional resilience research and practice information is available from the University of Minnesota Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement (CAREI). One free copy of this publication is available from NRRC; bulk quantities may be purchased for minimal cost. Call 612-624-1693 for details. The Spring 1997 issue of CAREI’s Research and Practice was edited by Bonnie Bernard and includes the following articles:

Resiliency-Paradigm Shift for Schools
Karen Seashore Louis, Interim Director, CAREI

Resilience in Children at-Risk
Ann S. Masten, Professor, Institute of Child Development, College of Education and Human Development, University of Minnesota

A Framework for Practice: Tapping Innate Resilience
Bonnie Benard, Research Editor, Resiliency In Action Consultant with Resiliency Associates, Berkeley, California; Kathy Marshall, M.A., Assistant Director, CAREI, Director, The Safe and Drug Free Schools Project, University of Minnesota

Resilience and Health Realization: An Administrator's Perspective
Richard Holt, Ph.D., Director of Student Services, District 742 Community Schools, St. Cloud, Minnesota

Tapping Innate Resilience In Today's Classrooms
Roger C. Mills, Ph.D, R.C. Mills and Associates, Long Beach, California

Traditional Native Culture and Resilience
Iris HeavyRunner (Blackfeet), CAREI and tribal College Faculty Development Project, University of Minnesota; Joann Sabastian Morris, Sault St. Marie (Chippewa) Director of the Office of Tribal Indian Education Programs, Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of Interior; with Kathy Marshall, Executive Director, National Resilience Resource Center, College of Continuing Education, University of Minnesota.

Since Beijing
Laren Bernabo, 11, Marshall School, Duluth, Minnesota; Nina Petersen-Perlman, 11, Woodland Middle School, Duluth, Minnesota; Sara Vokes, 17, Carthage College, Kenosha, Wisconsin, one of the founding girl editors of New Moon Magazine.

Seminal Works by Bonnie Benard

Four pivotal works by Bonnie Benard are historically significant, with staying power as they synthesize important research for lay prevention practitioners. Benard squarely plants her feet on the sacred ground of ethical scholarship and social advocacy. She never waivers from her position that adults can and must do more for children, that a national agenda is yet to be fully created and funded. These early works define the foundation on which the new agenda can wisely be built. Benard’s current publications, available from West Ed (http://www.wested.org/cs/we/view/rs/712), round out the collection of critical evidence.

The Case for Peers (December 1990) explores this “loadstone to prevention” and calls for a peer resource model of education with continuous opportunities for youth to be resources to each other.

Moving Toward a Just and Vital Culture: Multiculturalism in Our Schools (April 1991) summarizes early prevention and education implications of Greg Austin’s groundbreaking Prevention Research Updates exploring the relationship between substance abuse and ethnicity. Roles for schools are detailed.

Fostering Resiliency in Kids: Protective Factors in the Family, School and Community (August 1991) is the seminal review of massive multidisciplinary resilience research detailing school, family and community roles in extending essential protective factors to youth—caring, high expectations, and opportunities for participation.

Mentoring Programs for Urban Youth: Handle with Care (1992) examines research on the viability of planned mentoring as a prevention strategy with urban youth. Myths, magic and paradoxes are discussed as Benard issues a call for “truth-telling.”

Turning the Corner: From Risk to Resilience (updated 2004) includes 21 research summaries to support busy practitioners in learning what works to help young people avoid health-risk behaviors, including substance abuse.