RESULTS
Ungar, Ghazinour and Richter’s (2013) study of resilience from an ecological model of human development is based on the work of Bronfenbrenner’s 1979 seminal work, The Ecology of Human Development, noting people cannot be separated or understood apart from themselves in relation to others and their environment, that development is tied to our reciprocal interaction with these systems of influence. According to Berk (2006), “Later adaptations of these ideas by Bronfenbrenner…resulted in a bio-psycho-social systems theory that offered the most comprehensive…account of contextual influences on children’s development”(as cited in Ungar, Ghazinour & Richter, 2013, p.348). They note “multiple reciprocating systems, and the quality of those systems that account for most of children’s developmental success under negative stress (their resilience)”(p.349). From this perspective, whether or not abused children adapt after experiencing trauma is often dependent on an interconnected system of influences including ones biological determinants mediated by their social ecology. Their study specifically focuses on one “particular subset of processes associated with human development, those that enhance the experience of well-being among individuals who face significant adversity” (p.348).
