Resilience in families with children and adult members with intellectual disabilities: Tracing elements of a psycho-social model

Aim This paper seeks to illumine how families with children and adult members with intellectual disabilities manage to manifest a buoyant and durable capacity over time. It is therefore concerned centrally with the idea of resilience. Method Drawing from diverse theoretical literatures from child development and protection and gerontology, the paper begins with a review of constructions of resilience. In an attempt to assess where there seems to be support for resilience in families, the core of the paper tests empirical evidence about positive experiences of families supporting children and adults with intellectual disabilities against the theoretical literature on resilience. Result and conclusion The findings are used to suggest conditions under which resilience is produced and maintained, and to identify emergent elements of a psycho-social model of resilience in families with children and adult members with intellectual disabilities.