ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the ontogenic and microsystem level factors to address prevention and protective factors which are associated with building resilience. Individual variables and familial factors can support and protect individuals across the life course as a result of personal resources. An individual’s wellbeing is affected to a great extent by the substantial freedoms within which the person lives as well as by their capability to react to and recover from adverse events. An individual’s developmental progression and changing life conditions can significantly modify resilience. It is important for health professionals to understand building resilience. The lens used to understand this concept can inform what professionals may consider to be maladaptive yet could be considered protective for a specific individual. Microsystem denotes the ecologies most proximal to the child, including the family and peer relationships and those systems that are intimately related to the family.
