The history of psychological theories illustrates a pattern of the building and testing of grand theories of the early twentieth century, such as behaviorism and Piaget's genetic epistemology, giving way to the smorgasbord of minitheories encompassed in the information processing model. Medicine has followed a similar pattern, with the general practitioner of the early twentieth century having virtually been replaced with a myriad of specialists we are able to consult with today.
The early theorists who studied and wrote about resilience described it as a domain general trait developed across contexts and exhibited as a reasonably stable characteristic. The overall contribution of this special series is to add to a conversation about resilience as a multidimensional characteristic, begging the question of how resilience differs by context, time, age, gender, and cultural background. The domains from which these articles have come-nursing, special education, adult victims of abuse, infancy, and school administration-represent a second generation of voices in the growing interest in resilience. As with all second generations, these authors have drawn significantly from the foundation of the first generation. To those who opened the field, we are indebted.
Patterson's Understanding Family Resilience (2002) makes significant contributions to our understanding of resilience in the public health arena. Using families as the unit of analysis, Patterson explains the importance of family appraisals and the ways in which they affect the trajectory of resilience. Patterson clarifies confusing terminology, such as distinguishing between life risk that leads to family strength approaches and resilience that operates despite significant risk. One way in which the second generation of research on resilience will contribute is in the policy arena, and Patterson's potential policy applications is another strength of her article.
Rak's Heroes in the Nursery (2002) follows Patterson in part because of the implications for families in Rak's article. Rak utilizes cases, effectively demonstrating that ultimately what we can learn about resilience comes from individuals. A major contribution of Rak's article is his development of a continuum of resilience consisting of defensive, adaptive, and resilient elements. Rak's explication of this continuum as it was enacted