Operationalizing Family Resilience: A Methodological Strategy

This article explores several research design and analysis strategies for examining family resilience, and presents a strategy argued to reflect the process-oriented nature of this construct. We advocate a quantitative, longitudinal strategy, sensitive to both the context of a family and the unique stressor being examined. Our strategy was tested with longitudinal data, assessing transitions relating to the birth of a first child. Challenges connected with this model are presented, as well as clinical implications and directions for future research. Identifying differing resilience trajectories which families exhibit in response to stress may aid in identifying factors instrumental in shaping those trajectories.

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