Adolescent Resilience: Lessons for Primary Care

Resilience has been described as positive adaptation despite significant adversity. While the evidence cited as determinant of resilience varies across studies, most researchers consider adolescents and young adults who perform well in school; maintain a job; exhibit hope and optimism; engage in positive, nurturing, long-term relationships; and do not have evidence of psychopathology to indeed be resilient. A significant number of children, adolescents, and adults exposed to childhood abuse, poverty, and other substantial stressors exhibit these characteristics. The factors that predict resilience and the role of the primary care nurse practitioner (NP) in fostering positive adaptation are explored in this paper.