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I study risk and resilience in
development, with a focus on the processes leading to
positive adaptation and outcomes in young people whose
development is threatened by adversity. With many terrific
colleagues and students, I have studied adaptation in
diverse children, adolescents, and young adults, including
children growing up in ordinary situations in the city or on
farms, and children who must overcome extreme threats to
development, such as war, disaster, and homelessness. Our
objective in this research is to inform policy and programs
that promote positive development and a better future for
children whose lives are threatened by adversity.
I direct the Project Competence studies
of risk and resilience, which include a longitudinal study
of 205 children and their families recruited in the late
1970s from an urban school district and followed for more
than 20 years with 90% retention. Data and publications from
this study span many topics, including the development of
competence and personality, the role of protective factors
in resilience, the roots of adult happiness and civic
engagement, and many other themes. We learned that youth who
overcome childhood adversity and continue on to adult
success have more protections and resources in their lives
than their peers who do not fare as well. We observed “late
bloomers” whose lives took a dramatic turn for the better in
the transition to adulthood, suggesting that new resources,
opportunities, and supports converge in this window to
promote positive change.
Other recent research is focused on
understanding school success in homeless and highly mobile (HHM)
children. Our goal is to examine risk and resilience at
multiple levels of analysis, including biological indicators
of stress, cognitive skills, social interactions, family
qualities and school differences. This work is fully
collaborative with partners in the school districts and
shelters, as well as local and State agencies who share
concerns about achievement disparities. Analyses of district
data show expected achievement gaps between advantaged and
poor children, with HHM children at highest overall risk;
however, results also reveal striking variability, with some
mobile children doing well in school. Intensive studies of
young children from homeless shelters entering kindergarten
and first grade suggest that two key influences, effective
parenting and executive function skills, both of which can
be changed through intervention, play a powerful role in
successful transitions to school for these children.
Other collaborative studies focus on risk
and resilience among diverse children. For example, with
Frosso Motti-Stefanidi and others in Greece, I study
competence among immigrant students. With Joy and Howard
Osofsky and others, I study recovery from massive trauma in
New Orleans. With Susan Gerberich and colleagues here, I
study risk for injuries to Midwestern farm children in
epidemiological studies. In all of this work, our focus is
on processes that account for positive adaptation in the
context of risk, with the ultimate objective of learning how
best to promote resilience in human development.
Recent
publications
Masten, A. S. (2004). Regulatory processes, risk and resilience in
adolescent development. Annals of the New York Academy of
Sciences, 1021, 310-319.
Masten, A. S., Burt, K., Roisman, G. I., Obradović, J., Long, J. D.,
& Tellegen, A. (2004). Resources and resilience in the transition to
adulthood: Continuity and change. Development and
Psychopathology, 16, 1071-1094.
Masten, A. S., Roisman, G. I., Long, J. D., Burt, K. B., Obradović,
J., Riley, J. R., Boelcke-Stennes, K., & Tellegen, A. (2005).
Developmental cascades: Linking academic achievement, externalizing
and internalizing symptoms over 20 years. Developmental
Psychology, 41, 733-746.
Pine, D. S., Costello, J., & Masten, A. S. (2005). Trauma,
proximity, and developmental psychopathology: The effects of war and
terrorism on children. Neuropsychopharmacology, 30,
1781-1792.
Masten, A. S. (2006). Developmental psychopathology: Pathways to the
future. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 31,
46-53.
Masten, A. S., Burt, K., & Coatsworth, J. D. (2006). Competence and
psychopathology in development. In D. Cicchetti & D. Cohen (Eds.),
Developmental psychopathology, Vol 3, Risk, disorder and
psychopathology (2nd ed.) New York: Wiley.
Masten, A. S., & Obradović, J. (2006). Competence and resilience in
development. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1094,
13-27.
Obradović, J., & Masten, A. S. (2007). Developmental antecedents of
young adult civic engagement. Applied Developmental Science, 11(1),
2-19.
Masten, A. S. (Ed.) (2007). Multilevel dynamics in developmental
psychopathology: The Minnesota Symposia on Child Psychology.
Vol. 34. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Masten, A. S. (2007). Resilience in developing systems: Progress and
promise as the fourth wave rises. Development and
Psychopathology, 19, 921-930.
Revised January 2008
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