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The Rochester Child Resilience Project: Overview and summary of first year findings

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 October 2008

Emory L. Cowen ,
Peter A. Wyman ,
William C. Work  and
Gayle R. Parker
Emory L. Cowen*
Affiliation:
University of Rochester
Peter A. Wyman
Affiliation:
University of Rochester
William C. Work
Affiliation:
University of Rochester
Gayle R. Parker
Affiliation:
University of Rochester
*
Address reprint requests to: Emory L. Cowen, University of Rochester Center for Community Study, 575 Mt. Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620.
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Abstract

This article describes the Rochester Child Resilience Project (RCRP) and summarizes findings based on its initial year of operation. Among 4th-6th-grade urban children who had experienced significant life stress, convergent sources of evidence about current adjustment identified demographically matched samples of 37 stress-affected (SA) and 40 stress-resilient (SR) children. These two groups were compared on 11 test measures designed to expand the nomological definitional net for the concept of childhood resilience. Additionally, separate in-depth individual interviews were conducted with children and primary caregivers. Both test and interview responses significantly differentiated the groups in the predicted directions. Children's group status (SR vs. SA) was predictable on the basis of discriminant function analysis involving five test measures, blind ratings done both for the parent and child interviews, and hierarchical regression analyses reflecting major domains of the parent interview.

Type
Research Article
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 2 , Issue 2 , April 1990 , pp. 193 - 212
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

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