Robert J. McMahon – författare

Despite the numerous benefits derived from major technological and medical innovations of the past century, we continue to live in a world rife with significant social problems and challenges. Children continue to be born into lives of poverty; others must confront daily their parent’s mental illness or substance abuse; still others live amid chronic family discord or child abuse. For some of these children, life’s difficulties become overwhelming. Their enduring trauma can lead to a downward spiral, until their behavioral and emotional problems become lifelong barriers to success and wellbeing.

Almost no one today would deny that the world is sometimes an inhospitable, even dangerous, place for our youth. Yet most children—even those living in high-risk environments—appear to persevere. Some even flourish. And this begs the question: why, in the face of such great odds, do these children become survivors rather than casualties of their environments? For many decades, scholars have pursued answers to the mysteries of resilience. Now, having culled several decades of research findings, the editors of this volume offer an in-depth, leading-edge description and analysis of Resilience in Children, Families and Communities: Linking Context to Practice and Policy.

The book is divided into three readily accessible sections that both define the scope and limits of resilience as well as provide hands-on programs that families, neighborhoods, and communities can implement. In addition, several chapters provide real-life intervention strategies and social policies that can be readily put into practice. The goal: to enable children to develop more effective problem-solving skills, to help each child to improve his or her self-image, and to define ways in which role models can affect positive outcomes throughout each child’s lifetime.

For researchers, clinicians, and students, Resilience in Children,Families and Communities: Linking Context to Practice and Policy is an essential addition to their library. It provides practical information to inform greater success in the effort to encourage resilience in all children and to achieve positive youth development.

Recent experience with interventions designed to promote the well-being of children and to prevent mental health problems has identified particular challenges in families with disordered parents. These families are often very difficult to engage in mental health promotion and prevention programs, and they may be especially resistant to intervention. The Effects of Parental Dysfunction on Children explores the current level of knowledge regarding the processes by which a number of parental disorders influence the developmental outcomes of children.

Renowned scientist-practitioners from the United States, Canada, and Australia contributed ten chapters to this volume addressing the topic of the effects of parental behavioral and emotional disorders on children. The major topics covered by this book focus on children growing up in families in which the parents suffer from major psychosocial difficulties, including schizophrenia, depression, alcoholism, drug addiction, anxiety disorders, intellectual disabilities, and antisocial personality disorder.