This review paper presents a way of thinking about resilience that is relevant to the period of
adolescence. The literature on adolescent resilience can be conveniently thought of as having two
informative foci (1) an investigation of psychosocial outcomes in populations of young people
defined by a particular risk setting, and (2) an investigation of protective mechanisms important in
the process of successful adaptation. Each focus provides a useful perspective on resilience during
adolescence, emphasizing the different elements of the construct, and suggesting different
approaches to measurement. Considerable confusion arises when the outcome of adaptation and
the process of adaptation are used interchangeably to describe resilience. Resilience can be defined
as an outcome characterized by particular patterns of functional behaviour despite risk.
Alternatively, resilience can be defined as a dynamic process of adaptation to a risk setting that
involves interaction between a range of risk and protective factors from the individual to the
social. Any theoretical account of resilience that does not discriminate between process and
outcome may be prone to needless complexity.