Resilience is the capacity to recover and maintain adaptive behavior even after insult or trauma. These are kids who do well in spite of it all. Children who are resilient are flexible, but they are not invincible. Being a resilient person does not guarantee happiness. Resilience is not a trait that some have and others do not.
Cumulative risk can defeat the most resilient individual.
Protective factors are those factors that moderate the effects of individual vulnerabilities or environmental hazards. May operate in different ways at different stages of development. They often, but do not necessarily yield resilience. Perhaps the best articulation of these underlying needs was developed in 1973 by Dr. Gisela Konopka, who was asked by the former federal Department of Health, Education and Welfare to write a position paper on the requirements of healthy adolescent development. Dr. Konopka's work remains relevant today.