Overview of the Volume

Abstract

Tragically, civilians are increasingly affected by war, with many of them being children and youth. Although experiences of war and other severe political conflict often produce long-lasting trauma, it is important to ask what can be done to minimize the effects of war exposure. Research typically focuses on mental health and on how exposure to war generates symptoms of posttraumatic stress or other pathological outcomes of exposure to war; however, the chapters in this volume all concern children and youth who demonstrate remarkable resilience in the face of war experiences. According to Masten (2011), several kinds of phenomena have been studied under the umbrella term of resilience: (1) beating the odds in situations of high cumulative risk for developmental problems, (2) coping well under difficult circumstances, (3) bouncing back after some catastrophe or severe deprivation and (4) posttraumatic growth following adversity, through transformational reorganization of developing systems. All contributors to this volume endorse one or more of these views of resilience, with a special focus on the unique physical and psychosocial risks war presents for children and their families. We consider these issues in four sections.