Resilience in African American Children and Adolescents: A Vision for Optimal Development

This report encourages a paradigm shift from an emphasis on risk to exploring the complex interactive process of resilience in African American youth. It offers a vision of optimal development in African American youth within the following domains in the contexts of peers, families, schools, and communities: Identity development, emotional development, social development, cognitive development, and physical health and development. The report offers recommendations to the field on how to transform its approach to African American children and youth in the areas of research, practice, education, and policy.