The review covers the mental health literature on resilience, relevant to the period of
adolescence (12- and 18-years of age), and published between 1990 and 2000. Some seminal papers
pre-dating 1990 have been included for discussion and appraisal. The reviewed papers come
predominantly from the mental health literature where there is a notable paucity of research
examining resilience within the context of adolescent development. Where studies have been
conducted within adolescent populations, there is considerable cross study variation in the
definitions of resilience used to guide research. Consequently, adolescent resilience has been
investigated across different adversities, emphasizing different risk and protective factors, and
looking at different outcomes. Cross study variation in definitions of resilience in the adolescent
literature reflects a deeper problem within the field of resilience, that is, the lack of a unified theory
of resilience capable of guiding more structured and empirically based approaches to developing
the construct (Luthar, Cicchetti, & Becker, 2000). For understanding to progress, we argue that a
more differentiated and testable theory of the resilience is needed.