Today, the focus in the literature appears to have shifted toward the derivation of resilience-based inter- vention and prevention programs (Johnson & Wiechelt, 2004; Luthar et al., 2000). This shift appears synonymous with what Wilkes (2002) has termed the “second generation of resilience research” and what Richardson (2002) describes as the “third wave of resilience inquiry.” As resilience research has evolved,many resilience scholars agree that based on the extant body of resilience work, it is appropriate to develop interventions (Luthar & Cicchetti, 2000).
Defining Attributes
Defining attributes are the characteristics of a con- cept that appear repeatedly in the literature and are consistently present when the concept occurs (Walker
& Avant, 2005). The defining attributes for resilience were determined by comparing two sets of data. First, extensive lists of protective factors developed by prominent resilience researchers were examined and features common among the lists were tallied. Second, lists by resilience researchers that do not distinguish “protective factors” per se but have formulated char- acteristics consistently associated with the concept of resilience were cross-referenced.