Qualities of Resilient Students

In the last two decades, there has been a good deal of research that has focused on "resilient students." This research has defined these students as those who academically succeed despite their experiencing various strong stressors (e.g., poverty, parental divorce, etc.) that place them at risk of school failure (Christiansen, Christiansen & Howard, 1997). In each of these studies, researchers have found some characteristics which they identify as contributive to the success of these disadvantaged students.

For example, Dutrow and Houston (1981) observed that resilient students are: self-accepting, responsible, tolerant, flexible and self-controlled. Winfield (1998) found that resilient students were highly socially competent with both peers and adults. Also, they had good problem-solving skills, were non-defensive, non-aggressive, emotionally stable, had good feelings of personal power, were cooperative and empathic.

A number of other studies have observed these same characteristics in resilient students (e.g., McMillian & Reed, 1993; Patrick, 1995; Worrell, 1996). Further, these studies have also found that resilient students had a number of additional qualities including: expectation of school and career success, expectation of having a good job of age 30 years, a belief in the importance of going to college, and strong hope in the future (McMillian & Reed, 1993, Westfall & Pisapia, 1984; Worrell, 1996). Further, resilient students were found

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ning of the freshman year, on the college persistence of high, middle, and low ability men and women students; and (2) to describe women and men of varying ability in terms of certain academic variables. Subjects were both graduate and nongraduate students attending the University of Minnesota. Analyses of collected data revealed several gender-related interactions with respect to personality characteristics. It was concluded that there are various significant personality characteristics that contribute to academic success and persistence but that these characteristics interact with the differential reward systems and expectations of institution and society for men and women. Finally, in another early study, Dutrow and Houston (1981) conducted a study at Dabney S. Lancaster Community College in order to examine the relationships between reading achievement, academic major, grade point average, scores on the college Guidance and Placement Test, and selected personality characteristics. Methods involved the administration of the Iowa Silent Reading Test, the Survey of Study Habits and Attitudes, and the California Personality Inventory to 172 students enrolled in all of the English classes offered at DSLCC during spring of 1980.

Category: Psychology - Q