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Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 116 (2014) 3259 3265

5th World Conference on Educational Sciences - WCES 2013

The social ecology of resilience: A comparison of Chinese and

Western researches
Ping WANG a, Dian-Zhi LIU b*, Xin ZHAO c
a

Education College of Soochow University, No.50 Donghuan Road, Suzhou Industrial Park, Jiangsu Province,215021, China
b
Education College of Soochow University, No.1 Wenjing Road, Suzhou Industrial Park, Jiangsu Province,215123, China
c
CIIC Talent Assessment&Development Center,20F,Jianhui Building, No.922 Hengshan Road,Shanghai,200030,China

Abstract
Purpose of study: Resilience is a positive developmental phenomenon of regaining psychological balance under adversity. This
article explores the differences on theoretical model of resilience and its social ecology influence in western and Chinese culture.
Methods: Reviewing recent researches on resilience, studied 17 English and 11 Chinese critical articles through literature
analysis. Results: Western studies on resilience have been consisted by individual characteristic, or external protective factors,
and then the co-existence of the two. Now the models emphasize their interactions and ecology influence including four levels,
microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem and macrosystem. Chinese literatures emphasize external protective factors in the
formation of resilience, specifically individual interactions with microsystem which show significant effects and the mesosystem
interactions. Conclusions: The theoretical model of resilience has a consensus in both Western and Chinese culture, and there are
significant differences on its social ecology influence. Recommendations: Resilience can be better understood when we explore
further on the interaction mechanisms between individual characteristics and protective factors.
2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license.
Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Academic World Education and Research Center.

Keywords:Social ecology, psychological resilience, comparison

1. Introduction
Resilience is a psychological developmental phenomenon of regaining psychological balance under significant
adversity. Ever since Werner and Smith published their research on resilience thirty years ago(Werner & Smith,
1982), most studies commonly agree adversity as a prerequisite in the occurrence of resilience, ambiguity continues
regarding what is the essential factor of resilience, individual characteristic or its interaction with external protective
factors. From a social ecology perspective, studies combined individual and the environment factors on four levels,

*Corresponding name: Dian-Zhi LIU. Tel.: +86 138 1266 2193

E-mail address: dianzhiliu@foxmail.com

1877-0428 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license.
Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Academic World Education and Research Center.
doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.01.744

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microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem and macrosystem interactions. This article discusses the differences on the
theoretical model of resilience and its social ecology influence in western and Chinese culture from a social ecology
perspective.
2. Bio-psycho-social-ecological system theory and psychological resilience
Bio-social-ecological system theory was proposed by Bronfenbrenner on children development in 1979, which
suggests that the environment has major effect on adolescent development. Individuals interact with the
environment and get psychological development. Brofenbreener suggests that the ecological system is the
environment which people live in everyday and it can be divided into four levels, microsystem, mesosystem,
exosystem, macrosystem interactions. Microsystem is the family or school in which individuals face and interact
with their parents, teachers, peers every day. Most studies focus on microsystem interactions because of which
interact with individuals directly, so they have significant effects on psychological resilience development.
Mesosystem refers to interactions among the factors in the microsystem except the individual himself/herself. These
interactions determine the possibility that individuals can obtain social supports, so the quality of mesosystem is
very important to adaptation and positive development when adversity appears in ones life, which has a major
effect on the development of psychological resilience. It is obvious that childrens home environment can influence
their confidence and peer relationships at school. Exosystem is the institutional environment in which individuals
live in, such as social services and the resources that community can provide. Macrosystem refers to the culture,
policy, law which are the features of the society in which people grow and socialize. Different exosystem can lead to
different processes of resilience development, more and more studies have made efforts on this level of social
ecology.
The development of psychological resilience is very complicated, it is the dynamic adaptation process between
individuals and the environment, different levels of social environment and the factors from different ecological
system interact in the resilience process, each of them has its specific influences.
3. Western studies on resilience
Western studies on resilience begin on the case studies of individuals under significant adversities but
unexpectedly well-developed in their lives. The field has always been thriving ever since resilience became an
important research field decades ago. The development of resilience models have three phases: the personal traits,
external protective factors, the interactions between individual traits and protective factors.
In the beginning of resilience studies, researchers believe that resilience is individual traits that make people have
positive developmental outcomes(Anthony, 1987; Kumpfer, 2002; Masten, 1994; Werner & Smith, 1982). From this
perspective, researchers focus on the internal factors of resilience formation, they see resilience as individual ability
or characteristic, including physical features and psychological traits.
When external factors show impacts on the process of resilience, some researchers tend to focus on the resources
that one can get for supportive purpose. External protective factors refer to the resources from the family and social
organizations (Masten & Coatsworth, 1998). Hawkins have found evidences that social supports from parents or
teachers, individuals perception of supports, and beliefs are important to good academic performance(Hawkins,
2011).
As researches on resilience revealed that external resources can be compensations when individuals cannot cope
with the adversity all by oneself. So the combination of individual factors and external protective factors became the
mainstream of resilience studies. Researchers believe that both internal and external supportive factors are so
important that facilitate individuals have a positive development in the process of facing adversities(Masten, 1994;
Rutter, 2000; Werner & Smith, 1982).
The interactive model of resilience including both individual and external protective factors describes the
dynamic adaptation of how one cope with disadvantaged situations. Kumper proposed a comprehensive model
based on social ecology theory and person-process-environment model. In Kumpers model, whether one can cope

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with adversities resiliently depends on the environment one lives in and the dynamic feature of the interactions
among the environment, individual factors, consequences of adversity. Interactions with the environment could help
children change the high risk environment to the protective one(Skinner, Matthews, & Burton, 2005).
4. Chinese studies on resilience
Resilience studies in Chinese have a short history for about ten years, according to published articles we can tell
that researches have become more specific, most researches focus on three dimensions, the influencing factors of
resilience development, the resilience formation process and the resilience intervention methods. The influencing
factors have drawn most of the researchers attention and the other two have only been in the fields for a short time.
We have found that resilience studies in Chinese literatures focused on interactions of individual factors and external
protective factors, and most of the articles emphasized that the external protective factors supportiveness cannot be
revealed with the absence of individual traits in the formation and development process of resilience. Chinese
researchers have found that the individual traits includinged self-esteem, positive coping strategy(ZHANG H O,
2012), positive thinking style(FENG W M, 2011; GE G Y, 2010). In the studies of external protective factors they
have revealed that the resources can be very diverse, such as supportive factors from the family, attachment style,
parent rearing patterns(GE G Y, 2010; H, 2009). Some psychologists have also studied both factors, individual and
external, relying on psychometric method in the need of discovering the construct of resilience(Hu Y Q, 2008; LI H
L, 2008)

5. Comparison from social ecology perspective
The main difference of resilience studies in Western and Chinese literatures is the focus of different social
ecology levels. Western studies have been pulling efforts on all four levels of the environment individuals live in,
Chinese studies mainly focused on the interactions of microsystem and exosystem.
Researches of psychological resilience in western countries stemmed from the concentration on the children
development in high risk family environment of microsystem interactions. The former researchers regarded the
family environment as a risk factor which impeded the healthy development of individuals. From the individualcentered research paradigm, in the same high risk environment, the main factor that leads to the difference of
peoples healthy development is the peoples positive personality diversity(Anthony, 1987), like self-efficacy,
interpersonal skills, problems solving abilities and so on. Wernner,Garmezy and Rutter who emphasized the external
protective factors then began to concern how family environment helped children dealing with pressures positively,
and found that in microsystem interactions of high risk family environment, parents rearing patterns, attachment,
relationship of parents and how they deal with the adverse situation are all very crucial for the shaping of the
positive personality of the children(Garmezy, 1991; Rutter, 2000; Werner & Smith, 1982). Mastens research
indicated that the interaction between individuals positive traits and family environment increases individuals
ability to cope with the pressure, it was beneficial to the development of psychological resilience(Masten, 2001).
Researchers in China followed the Western perspective, the research results in Chinese literatures indicated that
in the microsystem interactions, high quality relationship of parents in family improved individuals ability to cope
with and adapt to pressures(XI, 2006)  which had positive effects on the formation and development of
psychological resilience.
In the study of GAN Y Q and her colleagues, they found that parents respect and supportiveness are the
important elements for the formation and development of teenagers psychological resilience(Hu Y Q, 2008). This
result was similar as ZHANG H Qs study about the parent-absent children of psychological resilience. As
individuals grow, their microsystem interactions expending gradually. Childrens microsystem is limited to the
family system, when they grown into juvenile and post-juvenile period, schools, teachers and peers are becoming
the main factors of their microsystem. ZHANG H Q also found that possessing a meaningful interpersonal
relationship from peers or teachers is helpful for individuals to deal with stress, and found that parent-absent

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children benefited from communication with their parents and supportiveness from their grandparents, those who
had benefits mentioned above was resilient(ZHANG, 2011).
In the studies of microsystem interactions, Western researchers have focused on the resilience of children,
theyve shown that positive factors in family system could facilitate the development of resilience. Chinese
researchers have investigated the psychological resilience of parent-absent children, teenagers and college students,
and theyve found more influencing factors besides family factors, such as teachers, classmates and other social
support. They both suggested that positive family atmosphere, positive parents rearing pattern, safe attachment are
important factors in the development of resilience. In the study of college students, Guo F revealed that comparing
to others, students who have been growing in warm-cultured parenting environment had significant higher
resilience(GUO F, 2012).
As researchers found the interactions between individual traits and external protective factors in the development
of resilience, they revealed that individuals who have positive traits often grew up in a positive family. Individuals
are more likely to have close friends or good teacher-student relationship. From social ecology perspective, we
believe that the factors in microsystem such as family, teachers, peers, interact with each other which have been
defined as mesosystem interactions that facilitate the formation and development of individual resilience. The author
have done an qualitative research on resilient individuals, one of the results shows that students who have been
growing in warm-cultured parenting are more likely to respect others and show sympathy in interpersonal
relationships, so they are more likely to have positive and supportive experiences. Furthermore, this could lead the
teachers and peers have a positive evaluation to the individual and their family, and facilitate positive
communication between them and the family on the events that individual faces, so they may all together make
efforts to offering social supports (Ping Wang, 2012).
The factors from exosystem, such as community and social service interact with individuals, support them and
improve their resilience in the occurrence of adversity. Donnon and his colleague have revealed that social
cohesiveness, community support are important external supportive resources in resilience development(Donnon &
Hammond, 2007). We have found that social support from social service organizations, relatives or friends, and
parents employers are very effective facilitators of resilience when individuals face adversities in our research on
college students with low socioeconomic status. Such kind of support, either material or psychological, gives them
strength and persistence to conquer the disadvantage (Ping Wang, 2012). Guangyu Ge Guangyu has studied on high
school students resilience, it shows that there are regional disparities on the level of resilience(GE G Y, 2010), the
results can be accounted for the different educational resources that the school can provide in different areas. Some
studies also show that resilience level of college students who grew up in countries are much higher than those grew
up in the cities (LEI W S, 2008; ZHANG, 2011), we suggest that maybe students grew up in countries have more
experiences of facing disadvantages so they gradually gain more resilience. But Guo Feng and his colleagues have
found that there is no difference of resilience depending on the region difference, students from the cities have less
family support but higher interpersonal support(GUO F, 2012). We believe that parents in countryside have high
expectation on their child so they give them more support. On the other side, students from the cities are likely know
more methods to get support outside their family. Based on an interview study of college students, it appears that
students from the countryside have more attention and support from government and the society as they are
disadvantaged. Students from the cities are more likely have less resource or support. The significant difference of
study results in this area may be related with the magnificent difference of ecology environment between cities and
countries in China, the regional difference of resilience needs further attention and efforts.
Community and NGO support in exosystem is an important facilitator of individual resilience in western, people
get support directly from the external environment. Differently, handful Chinese studies of exosystem suggest that
Chinese are more likely to get social support from their family system, parents colleagues, and schools which
provide government or public funding. This indicates that the collectivism have determined the exosystem
interaction at certain extent in China. Recently, community, government and NGOs are becoming significant
facilitators when adversities happen in ones life, e.g. disasters or accidents (Cross, 2003), however there are few
studies on resilience effects.

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Macrosystem influences our lives despite we want or not, western studies already suggest that policy and law can
effect psychological resilience development, Chinese researchers havent consider this ecological level yet. US
government has improved the protection level of the underage through laws of education, labor and employment.
What the government have done decreases the environment risk and has positive effects on individual
resilience(Davydov, Stewart, Ritchie, & Chaudieu, 2010; Freeman et al., 2006; Harris, 2007). There is only one
article that explored the effects on resilience from Confucian culture, the results showed that positive perception of
adversity and emphasizing the importance of taking responsibility reinforced individuals resilience(LI T R, 2012).
After decades of the one-child policy, substantial amounts of Chinese families have only one child, they tend to have
lower resilience comparing to those who have siblings. One explanation is that siblings can provide more family
support and available resources (JIANG X M, 2012; LEI W S, 2008). We believe that the distinction at this point
can be accounted for the difference of their external ecology environment. In the study of college students by Lei
Wansheng, female students show significant higher resilience than male students, this is similar as Hannah and
Morrissey s study (Hannah & Morrissey, 1987). Resilience level of freshmen and senior students are significantly
lower than the level of sophomore and junior (LEI W S, 2008), we suggest that an possible explanation based on the
consideration of the external environment, freshmen need to adapt to the new school environment and seniors must
face the tough job market.
From the social ecology perspective, weve revealed that (1) there is no difference on the effects of microsystem
and mesosystem in different countries, we all agreed that ecological factors from family, peers and schools have
positive effects. (2) There are significant differences on the study of exosystem, individuals get social support from
community and social services to facilitate their resilience development in western, but in China people are more
likely to get social support from their family system. (3) There are four major findings on macrosystem, a) religious
belief can facilitate ones resilience in western countries, but in China we have Confucian culture which has the
same effects on individual resilience. b) Female has higher resilience level than male in both cultures. c) The only
child has lower resilience comparing to those who have siblings in China. d) Resilience level have a backward U
distribution, resilience of freshmen and senior students are lower than that of sophomore and juniors.
6. Recommendation
This article discusses the differences on studies of resilience formation and development processes in different
cultures, Western and Chinese. There are some evident differences on the influencing factors, individual or external.
But it can be hard to get further deeper comparison because of the discrepancy of the research participants, and the
definition of psychological resilience. We suggest that future studies on resilience should consider more influencing
factors from divergent perspective to overcome such limitations.
6.1. Social ecology perspective
Resilience is a complex structure, and there are many factors influencing the development process, further study
should not just focus on social psychology factors as we already have, but also have a compensatory consideration
based on the social ecology perspective. Chinese studies should consider more of the four levels of social ecology,
especially the effects of community and other exosystem factors in resilience development, we dont have any study
in this area by far. And also, we should explore the role that government policy, law, culture plays in psychological
resilience, i.e. how the macrosystem influences individual resilience development.
6.2. Bio-social-psychology perspective
Resilience is not just a social psychology phenomenon but also a bio-psychology process, further research should
explore the biological mechanism of resilience through genetic study or event-related potential method.
Furthermore, we could investigate how these three levels, bio-social-psychology, interact and influence the
development of individual resilience.

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6.3. Culture diversity

There is evident discrepancy existing on the influencing factors of resilience in Western and Chinese studies.
Culture clearly plays a very important role in resilience development, further study should pull more effort on
culture diversity and environment differences in the investigation of resilience mechanism, for example, the
interactive dynamic process of individual traits and external protective factors.

Acknowledgements
This research was supported by Research of the psychological growth and social support of the vulnerable group
in social changing key project from the philosophy and social science fund of Jiangsu Province(SK20600211),
and the Sports science and technology project fund Sports Bureau of Jiangsu Province(ST12001204).

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