AMANDA HYNAN FINAL THESIS PDF

2. The second perspective is based upon ecological (Bronfenbrenner, 1977) and
ecological/transactional (Cicchetti & Lynch, 1993) influences that consider
factors within proximity to an individual. Over time these can affect
development: socio-economic disadvantage, parental mental illness,
maltreatment, poverty, violence and catastrophic life events.
3. The third is the structural-organizational perspective (Cicchetti & Tucker,
1994) which suggests there is coherence to the way that competence and
resilience develop over time, so that contextual factors are affected by
individual choice and self-organisation.
These perspectives all recognise the need to understand how protective factors work
in order to develop intervention and prevention strategies.
Luthar et al. (2000) discuss the scientific concerns that have arisen around resilience
as a scientific concept based around difficulties of measurement, the dangers of
positioning resilience as a personal trait (where a person may be seen as failing to
overcome adversity), and a lack of consensus around terms such as ‘protective’ and
‘vulnerability’. Masten (2001) suggested resilience should not be seen as a special
characteristic that emerges in extraordinary circumstances but is better conceptualised
as an everyday phenomenon demonstrated by people within their communities.
Ungar (2004) suggests that the ecological perspective is the most dominant and sits
within a positivist paradigm which is underpinned by a focus on the predictable nature
of risk and protective factors. He suggests a constructionist, postmodern approach to
resilience is one that considers the negotiation of resources by an individual in
relation to their environment. He critiques ecological interpretations which seek to
compensate through: challenging (inoculating against future risk), protecting
(reducing potential risks) or compensating (neutralising identified risks) as being
“plagued by cultural hegemony” (p. 342)
He suggests a constructionist interpretation recognises the multidimensional nature of
resilience and recognises the uniqueness of each context for an individual or their
group. He suggests that negotiating resilience through individual challenges and the
construction of protection through personal resource management has implications for
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