Introduction

Resilience has been defined as the manifestation of positive outcomes in the face of some form of adversity (Luthar et al., 2000; Masten, 2001), poverty being one such adversity. Poverty, “the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support,” has meaning in both relative and absolute terms. Those who are defined as poor in an affluent country like the USA may not seem impoverished, on a more absolute basis, compared with those living in extreme poverty in regions such as sub-Saharan Africa. Nonetheless, individuals who are poor in a more relative sense may still experience significant distress through the comparative wealth they see around them.

Poverty in developed countries indexes a range of social ills that extend beyond the absolute or relative lack of money and goods. Crowded living conditions, community and family violence, drug trafficking, high crime rates, a weaker civil infrastructure, and higher prevalence rates of mental and substance use disorders are issues that are more commonly found in poor communities. These social conditions are better able to fester in impoverished settings and can feed on themselves, creating a downward spiral or “vicious circle,” wherein one problem provokes the emergence or worsening of another. For example, a high crime rate in a neighborhood may lead to businesses deciding to avoid it as a place of investment, leading to higher unemployment and further crime in that area.