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When asked to write a chapter focusing on school for this book, we thought of the many fine books, chapters, and articles written about the multitude of school-based programs targeted at the prevention of social and emotional problems in children and adolescents. Indeed, programs such as school-based mental health clinics, drug and alcohol prevention programs, weapons-reduction programs, school-community partnerships, and school-based family support services (to name but a few) all target the social and emotional well-being of our nation’s students. Many of these could be said to broadly foster resihence.

No one doubts that clinicians, parents, teachers, and other caregivers are in a unique position to affect social adjustment and interpersonal competence in children. There is, however, reason to wonder whether we have a thorough grasp of the subtleties of this process. We know that some families, for instance, can adjust in reasonably adaptive ways to what appear to be circumstances very similar to those in families who cannot. Even among the very poor, many of whom experience insurmountable pressures of daily living, some can cope better than others and can have children who emerge as stellar examples of healthy human functioning.

How do we go about predicting the future of children today? What statistics should be examined? What outcomes should be measured? What formulas computed? There are no definitive or precise answers. In this volume we have attempted to address these issues through the study and clinical application of resilience and resilience processes. We have sought to address which variables and through which processes within the child, immediate family, and extended community interact to offset the negative effects of adversity, thereby increasing the probability of our survival. Some of these processes may serve to protect the negative effects of specific stressors, while others simply act to enhance development. In the truest sense, the study of resilience as an outcome phenomenon gathers knowledge that hopefully can be used to shape and change the future for the better.