Human Development and Adversity in Ecological Perspective, Part 1: A Conceptual Framework

Abstract

This article is part one of a two-part series on human development and adversity. The author presents a conceptual framework combining developmental psychopathology and its associated concepts of resilience, protective factors, and risk factors with social work's ecological, phenomenological, and strengths-based approach. Separately, each framework has its strengths and weaknesses. Together, these frameworks provide a comprehensive and detailed view of human development that has major implications for practice, programs, and policy. Part two presents the results of research demonstrating how the integrated framework elucidates developmental processes under adverse conditions. This research identified three models of human development under adverse conditions: the model of the wounded well, the social-deficits model, and the social-assets model.