Hostname: page-component-6587cd75c8-67gbf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-23T10:50:00.482Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Resilience in the Face of Adversity

Protective Factors and Resistance to Psychiatric Disorder

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Michael Rutter
Michael Rutter*
Affiliation:
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Almost since the beginnings of psychiatric practice, there has been a recognition that negative life experiences and stressful happenings may serve to precipitate mental disorders (Garmezy & Rutter, 1985). Nearly 200 years ago, Pinel wrote about the psychiatric risks associated with unexpected reverses or adverse circumstances, and it is reported that his initial question to newly admitted psychiatric patients was: “Have you suffered vexation, grief or reverse of fortune?” Nevertheless, although an appreciation that a variety of stressors may play a role in the genesis of psychiatric disorder has a long history, the systematic study of such effects is much more recent.

Type
Lecture
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 147 , Issue 6 , December 1985 , pp. 598 - 611
Copyright
Copyright © 1985 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Anthony, E. J. (1974) The syndrome of the psychologically invulnerable child. In The Child in His Family: Children at Psychiatric Risk, Anthony, E. J. & Koupernik, C. (eds). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Anthony, E. J. (1978) A new scientific region to explore. In The Child in His Family: Vulnerable Children, Anthony, E. J. & Koupernik, C. (eds). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Belle, D. (ed) (1982) Lives in Stress: Women and Depression. Beverley Hills, California: Sage.Google Scholar
Belle, D., Longfellow, C. & Makosky, V. P. (1982) Stress, depression and the mother-child relationship: report of a field study. International Journal of Sociology of the Family, 12, 251–263.Google Scholar
Berger, M. (1985) Temperament and individual differences. In Child and Adolescent Psychiatry: Modern Approaches, Rutter, M. & Hersov, L. (eds). Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Birtchnell, J. (1980) Women whose mothers die in childhood: an outcome study. Psychological Medicine, 10, 699–713.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bleuler, M. (1978) The Schizophrenic Disorders: Long-term Patient and Family Studies. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Bowlby, J. (1951) Mental Care and Mental Health. Geneva: WHO.Google ScholarPubMed
Bowlby, J. (1969) Attachment and Loss: I. Attachment. London: Hogarth Press.Google Scholar
Bowlby, J. (1973) Attachment and Loss: II. Separation, Anxiety and Anger. London: Hogarth Press.Google Scholar
Bowlby, J. (1980) Attachment and Loss: III. Loss, Sadness, and Depression. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979) The Ecology of Human Development: Experiments by Nature and Design. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Brown, G. & Harris, T. (1978) Social Origins of Depression: A Study of Psychiatric Disorders in Women. London: Tavistock.Google Scholar
Brown, G., Harris, T. & Bifulco, A. (1985) Long term effect of early loss of parent. In Depression in Childhood: Developmental Perspectives, Rutter, M., Izard, C. & Read, P. (eds). New York: Guilford Press (in press).Google Scholar
Bugental, D. B. & Shennum, W. A. (1984) ‘Difficult’ children as elicitors and targets of adult communication patterns: an attributional-behavioral transactional analysis. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Chess, S. & Thomas, A. (1984) Origins and Evolution of Behavior Disorders: From Infancy to Early Adult Life. New York: Brunner Mazel.Google Scholar
Clarke-Stewart, K. A. (1973) And Daddy makes three: the father's impact on mother and young child. Child Development, 49, 466–493.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coll, C. G., Kagan, J. & Reznick, J. S. (1984) Behavioral inhibition in young children. Child Development, 55, 1005–1019.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cox, A. D. & Rutter, M. (1985) Diagnostic appraisal and interviewing. In: Child and Adolescent Psychiatry: Modern Approaches, Rutter, M. & Hersov, L. (eds). Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Crnic, K. A., Greenberg, M. T., Ragozin, A. S., Robinson, N. M. & Basham, R. B. (1983) Effects of stress and social support on mothers and premature and full-term infants. Child Development, 54(1), 209–217.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crockenberg, S. B. (1981) Infant irritability, mother responsiveness, and social support inferences on the security of infant-mother attachment. Child Development, 52, 857–865.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunn, J. & Kendrick, C. (1982) Siblings: Love, Envy and Understanding. London: Grant Mclntyre.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elder, G. H. (1974) Children of the Great Depression. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Elder, G. H. (1979) Historical change in life pattern and personality. In Lifespan Development and Behavior, vol. 2, Baltes, P. & Brim, O. (eds). New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Emery, R. E. & O'Leary, K. D. (1984) Marital discord and child behavior problems in a non-clinic sample. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 12, 411–420.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fergusson, D. M., Horwood, L. J., Gretton, M. E. & Shannon, F. T. (1985) Family life events, maternal depression, and maternal and teacher descriptions of child behavior. Pediatrics, 75, 30–35.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Garmezy, N. (1985a) Stress-resistant children: the search for protective factors. In Recent Research in Developmental Psychopathology, Book Supplement No. 4 to Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry. Oxford: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Garmezy, N. (1985b) Children's responses to separation and loss: developmental aspects. In Depression in Young People: Developmental and Clinical Perspectives, Rutter, M., Izard, C. and Read, P. (eds). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Garmezy, N. & Rutter, M. (1985) Acute stress reactions. In Child and Adolescent Psychiatry: Modern Approaches, Rutter, M. & Hersov, L. (eds). Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Garmezy, N. & Tellegen, A. (1984) Studies of stress-resistant children: methods, variables and preliminary findings. In Applied Developmental Psychology, Morrison, F., Keating, D. & Lord, C. (eds). New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Gunnar-Vongnechten, M. R. (1978) Changing a frightening toy into a pleasant toy by allowing the infant to control its actions. Developmental Psychology, 14, 157–162.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henderson, S., Byrne, D. G. & Duncan-Jones, P. (1981) Neurosis and the Social Environment. Sydney: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Henderson, S., Byrne, D. G., Duncan-Jones, P. (1984) Neurosis and the Social Environment. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Hennessy, J. W. & Levine, S. (1979) Stress, arousal, and the pituitary-adrenal system: a psychoendocrine hypothesis. In: Progress in Psychobiology and Physiological Psychology, Sprague, J. M. and Epstein, A. N. (eds). New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Hetherington, E. M. (1980) Children and divorce. In Parent-Child Interaction: Theory, Research and Prospect, Henderson, R. (ed). New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Hetherington, E. M., Cox, M. & Cox, R. (1982) Effects of divorce on parents and children. In: Non-traditional Families, Lamb, M. (ed). Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Hinde, R. A. & Mcginnis, L. (1977) Some factors influencing the effect of temporary mother-infant separation: some experiments with rhesus monkeys. Psychological Medicine, 7, 197–212.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hultsch, D. F. & Plemons, J. K. (1979) Life events and life span development. In Life-span Development and Behaviour, vol. 2, Baltes, P. B. & Brim, O. G. (eds). New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Hunt, J. McV. (1979) Psychological development: early experience. Annual Review of Psychology, 30, 103–143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kagan, J. (1981) The Second Year: The Emergence of Self Awareness. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kagan, J. (1984) The Nature of the Child. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Kennard, J. & Blrtchnell, J. (1982) The mental health of early separated women. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 65, 388–402.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leff, J. P. & Vaughn, C. E. (1981) The role of maintenance therapy and relatives' expressed emotion in relapse of schizophrenia: a two-year follow-up. British Journal of Psychiatry, 139, 102–104.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lerner, R. M. (1983) A ‘goodness of fit’ model of person-context interaction. In Human Development: An International Perspective, Magnusson, D. & Allen, V. L. (eds). New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Longfellow, C. & Belle, D. (1984) Stressful environments and their impact on children. In: Stress in Childhood, Humphrey, J. (ed). New York: AMS.Google Scholar
Maccoby, E. E. (1984) Socialization and developmental change. Child Development, 55, 317–328.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maccoby, E. E., & Martin, J. A. (1983) Socialization in the context of the family: parent-child interaction. In: Socialization, Personality, and Social Development, vol. 4. Handbook of Child Psychology (4th edition), Hetherington, E. M. (ed). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Main, M. & Weston, D. R. (1981) The quality of the toddler's relationship to mother and to father: related to conflict behaviour and the readiness to establish new relationships. Child Development, 52, 932–940.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Masten, A. S. & Garmezy, N. (1985) Risk, vulnerability and protective factors in developmental psychopathology. In: Advances in Clinical Child Psychology, Vol. 8, Lahey, B. B. & Kazdin, A. E. (eds). New York: Plenum (in press).Google Scholar
Mineke, S. & Suomi, S. J. (1978) Social separation in monkeys. Psychological Bulletin, 85, 1376–1400.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Notarius, C. I. & Pellegrini, D. S. (1984) Marital processes as stressors and stress mediators: implications for marital repair. In: Personal Relationships 5: Repairing personal relationships, Duck, S. W. (ed). London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Olah, A., Goobar, I., Magnusson, D., Kassin, H. & Reddy, N. Y. (1984) Culture, age and sex as moderating factors in the appraisal of anxiety in the environment. Reports from the Department of Psychology, University of Stockholm, No. 619.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parker, G. (1983) Parental Overprotection: A Risk Factor for Psychosocial Development. New York: Grune & Stratton.Google Scholar
Parker, G., & Hadzi-Pavlovic, D. (1984) Modification of levels of depression in mother-bereaved women by parental and marriage relationships. Psychological Medicine, 14, 125–135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Passman, R. H. (1977) Providing attachment objects to facilitate learning and reduce distress: effects of mothers and security blankets. Developmental Psychology, 13, 25–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Passman, R. H., & Adams, R. E. (1982) Preferences for mothers and security blankets and their effectiveness as reinforcers for young children's behaviours. Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry, 23, 223–236.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Patterson, G. (1982) Coercive Family Process. Eugene, Oregon: Castalia.Google Scholar
Patterson, G., & Stouthamer-Loeber, M. (1984) The correlation of family management practices and delinquency. Child Development, 55, 1299–1307.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Paykel, E. S. (1978) Contribution of life events to causation of psychiatric illness. Psychological Medicine, 8, 245–253.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pellegrini, D. S. & Urbain, E. S. (1985) An evaluation of interpersonal cognitive problems solving training with children. Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry, 26, 17–41.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Plomin, R. (1983) Childhood temperament. In Advances in Clinical Child Psychology, Vol. 6, Lahey, B. B. & Kazdin, A. E. (eds). New York: Plenum.Google Scholar
Porter, R. & Collins, G. M. (eds) (1982) Temperamental differences in infants and young children. Ciba Foundation Symposium 89. London: Pitman.Google Scholar
Quinton, D. (1980) Family life in the inner city: myth and reality. In Education for the Inner City, Marland, M. (ed). London: Heinemann Educational.Google Scholar
Quinton, D., Rutter, M. & Liddle, C. (1984) Institutional rearing, parenting difficulties, and marital support. Psychological Medicine, 14, 102–124.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rachman, S. J. (1978) Fear and Courage. San Francisco: Freeman.Google Scholar
Rowe, D. C. & Plomin, R. (1981) The importance of non-shared (E1) environmental influence in behavioral development. Developmental Psychology, 17, 517–531.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ruppenthal, G. C., Arling, G. L., Harlow, H. F., Sackett, G. P. & Suomi, S. J. (1976) A 10-year perspective of motherless-mother monkey behaviour. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 85, 341–349.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rutter, M. (1970) Sex differences in children's response to family stress. In The Child in His Family, Anthony, E. J. & Koupernik, C. (eds). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. (1971) Parent-child separation: psychological effects on the children. Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry, 12, 233–260.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rutter, M. (1977) Individual differences. In Child Psychiatry: Modern Approaches (1st edition), Rutter, M. & Hersov, L. (eds). Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. (1979a) Protective factors in children's responses to stress and disadvantage. In Primary Prevention of Psychopathology, Vol. 3: Social Competence in Children, Kent, M. W. & Rolf, J. E. (eds). Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New England.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. (1979b) Changing Youth in a Changing Society: Patterns of Adolescent Development and Disorder. London: Nuffield Provincial Hospitals Trust.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. (1981a) Maternal Deprivation Reassessed. Harmondsworth: Penguin.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. (1981b) Stress, coping and development: some issues and some questions. Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry, 22, 323–356.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rutter, M. (1982) Epidemiological-longitudinal approaches to the study of development. In The Concept of Development, Collins, W. A. (ed). Minnesota Symposia on Child Psychology, vol. 15. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. (1983) Statistical and personal interactions: facets and perspectives: In: Human Development: An interactional perspective, Magnusson, D. and Allen, V. (eds). New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. (1984a) Psychopathology and development: I. Childhood antecedents of adult psychiatric disorder. Australian and New-Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 18 225–234.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rutter, M. (1984b) Psychopathology and development: II. Childhood experiences and personality development. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 18, 314–327.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rutter, M. (1985a) Family and school influences on cognitive development. Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry, in press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rutter, M. (1985b) Family and school influences on behavioural developments. Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry (in press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rutter, M. (1985c) Depressive feelings, cognitions and disorders: a research postscript. In: Depression in Young People: Developmental and clinical perspectives, Rutter, M., Izard, C. and Read, P. (eds). New York: Guilford (in press).Google Scholar
Rutter, M., & Garmezy, N. (1983) Developmental psychopathology. In: Socialization, Personality and Social Development, vol. 4 Handbook of Child Psychology, Hetherington, E. M. (ed). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Rutter, M., & Giller, H. (1983) Juvenile Delinquency: Trends and perspectives. Harmondsworth: Penguin.Google Scholar
Rutter, M., & Quinton, D. (1984) Long-term follow-up of women institutionalized in childhood: factors promoting good functioning in adult life. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 18, 225–234.Google Scholar
Scarr, S. & Mccartney, K. (1983) How people make their own environments: a theory of genotype environmental effects. Child Development, 54, 424–435.Google Scholar
Schaefer, C. Coyne, J. C. & Lazarus, R. S. (1981) The health-related functions of social support. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 4 (4), 381–406.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schaffer, H. R. (1966) Activity level as a constitutional determinant of infantile reaction to deprivation. Child Development, 37, 595–602.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shields, H. (1980) Genetics and mental development. In Child Psychiatry: Modern Approaches, Rutter, M. (ed). Oxford: Blackwell Scientific.Google Scholar
Sorce, J. F., Emde, R. N., Campos, J. & Klinnert, M. D. (1984) Maternal emotional signaling: its effect on the visual cliff behavior of one-year olds. Developmental Psychology, 21, 195–200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sorce, J. F., Emde, R. N., (1981) Mother's presence is not enough: effective emotional availability in infant exploration. Developmental Psychology, 17, 737–745.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stacey, M., Dearden, R., Pill, R. & Robinson, D. (1970) Hospitals, Children and Their Families: The Report of a Pilot Study. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Suomi, S. (1983) Models of depression in primates. Psychological Medicine, 13, 465–468.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thoits, P. A. (1982) Conceptual, methodological, and theoretical problems in studying social support as a buffer against life stress. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 23, 145–159.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ursin, H., Baade, E. & Levine, S. (1978) Psychobiology of Stress: A Study of Coping Men. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Vaughn, C. E. & Leff, J. P. (1976) The influence of family and social factors on the course of psychiatric illness. A comparison of schizophrenic and depressed neurotic patients. British Journal of Psychiatry, 129, 125–137.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wadsworth, M. E. J. (1984) Early stress and associations with adult health, behaviour and parenting. In Stress and Disability in Childhood. Bristol: John Wright.Google Scholar
Wallerstein, J. S. & Kelly, J. B. (1980) Surviving the Breakup: How Children and Parents Cope with Divorce. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Weinraub, M. & Wolf, B. M. (1983) Effects of stress and social supports on mother-child interactions in single-and two-parent families. Child Development, 54, 1297–1311.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Werner, E. E. & Smith, R. S. (1982) Vulnerable but Invincible: A Study of Resilient Children. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Wolkind, S. & Rutter, M. (1985) Separation, loss and family relationships. In Child and Adolescent Psychiatry: Modern Approaches, Rutter, M. & Hersov, L. (eds). Oxford: Blackwell Scientific.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.