Why do you think your paper is highly cited?

It addresses a topic that is popular, though controversial-resilience, or the process whereby children maintain positive adaptation in spite of major life adversities.

  Does it describe a new discovery or new methodology that's useful to others?

It presents clarifications of some common misunderstandings regarding the phenomenon of resilience, and at the same time, outlines ways in which contemporary researchers might inadvertently contribute to these.

  Is it a condensation of previous literature on the subject?

It is a critique of the construct of resilience as it has been handled in developmental science.

  Could you summarize the significance of your paper in layman's terms?

This article presents a critical appraisal of the construct of "resilience" - a phenomenon whereby individuals show positive adaptation in spite of significant life adversities. As research on childhood resilience has burgeoned over the last few decades, there have been growing criticisms of work in this area. Some have noted that researchers vary considerably in how they define resilience, and in the criteria they use to define "high adversity", "positive child adjustment", or "protective factors". Others have argued that the very use of the term "resilience" is dangerous, in that it leads many to assume erroneously-that children themselves are responsible for their own successes, and by deduction, their own failures in life. Yet another concern voiced is that the phenomenon of resilience tends to be unstable: it is displayed by relatively few at-risk children, and even these youth can suffer considerably in some areas even as they excel in others (e.g., they can struggle with inner depression as they obtain high grades at school).

Each of the identified criticisms is addressed in turn within this article. For those we view as legitimate, we propose solutions, and for those we believe are less valid, we clarify common misunderstandings. We conclude that work on resilience does, in fact, carry high potential to teach us about how people maintain positive adjustment despite adversity. The realization of this potential, however, will remain seriously constrained unless researchers carefully attend to some of the conceptual and methodological problems noted about existing work in this area.