Risk
and Resilience
evidence from the 'Growing Up' study
Children's destinies
are not fixed by having a mother or father with learning difficulties.
Some children show considerable resilience in coping with lives
filled with difficulty. Such resilience is fostered or enhanced
by protective factors that mediate children's response to risk
and shield them from the hazards of their environment.
In line with other
research in this field, Growing
Up with Parents who have Learning Difficulties points to
three broad sets of variables that may act as protective factors
producing resilience in children: personality characteristics,
family characteristics and external supports.
The personality
characteristics that seemed to be important in sustaining resilience
were: sociability, responsiveness to others, and an outgoing
nature as shown by a readiness to join in activities and
take on responsibility.
The family characteristics
that seemed to nurture resilience were: warmth and mutuality
(as shown, for example, by feelings of having been loved as a
child and of having done things together as a family), stability
(as shown, for example, by having at least one parent alive throughout
childhood and an absence of separations or the loss of a close
relative), and security (as provided, for example, by
having grandparents who live near, a supportive uncle or aunt
at home, parents who can manage money).
The external supports
that appeared to foster resilience were supportive relationships
outside the home and participation and involvement in the wider
community (as shown, for example, by mainstream schooling,
having a job, belonging to local clubs and societies, being part
of a close-knit neighbourhood).
These protective
factors may be missing from some people's lives, or they may
change over time, or they may not be strong enough to buttress
an individual against the risks they face. The balance between
the risks that heighten vulnerability and the protective factors
that enhance resilience varies for different individuals and
at different points in people's lives. All this suggests that,
contrary to a lot of current thinking, no simple link exists
between parenting skills and child outcomes.
 Chapter
5, 'Risk, Resilience and Competence' in Growing Up with Parents
who have Learning Difficulties, Routledge, London, 1998.
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