Epilogue

Abstract

The chapters in this book have variously considered resilience within the individual as a state, trait, or combination of competencies. Also addressed have been the contexts such as family or educational environments, as well as social and cultural contexts, within which resilience may be manifested, fostered, and assessed. Useful constructs have been identified as central to resiliency including sense of mastery, initiation, self- efficacy, problem solving, sense of relatedness, attachment, social support, meaning and emotion regulation. Psychometrically sound instruments have been identified to assess various combinations of resiliency competencies at different stages of development. While we hope this book will have immediate relevance and application to social scientists and the helping professions, we also very much want to encourage further research into resilience and resiliency. Human kind has always been faced with challenges, whether from each other, the social and economic worlds we have created, or nature itself. But the challenges we face today and our capacity to meet and even conquer them are being tested as never before. For humanity to psychologically and physically thrive is the quest we must confront and one which brings resilience to the forefront. This is no where better captured than the question by Stephen Hawking, mathematics professor at Cambridge University, and famous for his work in theoretical physics, who posted this question on Yahoo Answers "Ask the Planet" campaign (July, 2006): "In a world that is in chaos politically, socially and environmentally, how can the human race sustain another 100 years?" (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved). (chapter)