Study I examined relationships between an interview measure of children's future expectations and variables reflecting self-system functioning with 136 9–11-year-old urban children exposed to high psychosocial stress. As expected, future expectations related to affect regulation, self-representations, and school adjustment. Study II, done with a subsample of the original group, showed that early positive future expectations predicted enhanced socioemotional adjustment in school and a more internal locus of control 2½–3½ years later and acted as a protective factor in reducing the negative effects of high stress on self-rated competence. These findings: (a) are consistent with prior data showing positive expectations to be characteristic of resilient children; (b) suggest that early positive future expectations influence later adjustment; and (c) underscore the role children have in actively structuring their environments and, thus, influencing their development. The heuristic value of the construct of self for future studies of resilience is suggested, and implications for preventive interventions are considered.

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.

This article presents policy recommendations relating to two aspects of primary prevention inmental health: (a) preventing adverse negative outcomes and (b) building health and wellness fromthe start and maintaining it thereafter. Recommendations for reducing diverse negative outcomesand end states reflect interconnections and bidirectional influences among physical,social–interpersonal, cognitive–academic, and “mental health”outcomes.

Reports follow-up study of 181 young highly stressed urban children, classified asstress-resilient (SR) and stress-affected (SA) 1½–2 years earlier. At follow-up(T2), children were retested on five initial (T1) test measures:self-rated adjustment, perceived competence, social problem solving, realistic controlattributions, and empathy; parents and teachers did new child adjustment ratings, and parentsparticipated in a phone interview focusing on the T1–T2interval. Child test and adjustment measures and parent interview responses at T2sensitively differentiated children classified as SR and SA at T1. Test andinterview variables used at T1 and T2 correlated moderately acrosstime periods. At T2, four child test indicators (i.e., rule conformity, globalself-worth, social problem solving, and realistic control attributions) and four parent interviewvariables (positive future expectations for the child, absence of predelinquency indicators, goodparent mental health in the past year, and adaptive parent coping strategies) sensitivelydifferentiated children classified as SR and SA at T1. No relationship was foundbetween family stress experienced in the T1–T2 intervaland changes in children's adjustment during that period.