personal dysfunction in the context of male and
female identities
developing differentially in
society as a whole
2.2.4 Resilience to psychopathology
There is evidence to suggest that 25 per cent of
individuals traumatised during childhood later
developed significant
psychopathology as adults
(Werner & Smith, 1992). As the majority did not,
this would indicate that some individuals are
more resilient to the development of
psychological distress. It may be that adaptive
personality traits
protect certain individuals
against psychopathology. This resilience to
distress may also be based upon an ability to
buffer themselves from more negative life
experiences and that some individuals need to
experience more negative
life events before their
coping abilities are overwhelmed (Rutter, 1987)
or the development of active coping styles in
seeking social support (Runtz & Schallow, 1997).
Social mechanisms may explain the relative lack
of vulnerability of some children. These children
would appear to recognise
early on in their lives
that their parent’s behaviour is pathological and
look elsewhere for attachment and behavioural
models (Werner & Smith, 1992). It has been
noted that positive experiences outside the
family, and
particularly positive school
experiences, may protect children by providing
children with experiences of competence or a
positive bond with a particular teacher (Rutter &
Rutter, 1993). Schools and other social
structures, such as athletics and social clubs may,
therefore, reduce the risk of delinquency (Rutter
& Rutter, 1993).
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