DOCUMENT RESUME

Resilience is a universal capacity that allows a child to prevent, minimize, or overcome the damaging effects of adversity. The construct of resiliency, the combination of protective factors that result in resilience, was addressed by the International Resilience Project (IRP), which set out to explore what parents, caregivers, teachers or children can do that seems to promote resilience in children. Protective factors noted include the dispositional attributes of the individual, family attributes, and school and community environment. The IRP determined that children overcome adversity by drawing on three sources of resilience, labeled "I have, " "I am, " "I can. " To test these resilience features, 39 children in a Singapore primary school were given an adapted version of the Child's Perception of Resilience Checklist, as used in the IRP. The study determined that it is possible to draw a common set of resilience factors in a particular cultural setting to promote resilience in children, and that a number of strong resilience factors were shown; however, while the children do use resilience-promoting behaviors, these depend largely on the individual situation. The results reinforce the role of family and school as protective factors for the developing child. (JPB) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document