Individuals who were abused as children and have spontaneously, without intervention, been able to change their cognitive and behavioral patterns such that they do not abuse their own children represent a heretofore untapped source of information and understanding about the processes of conceptual change and resilience. This pilot study investigates the nature of this conceptual change as an exemplar of resilience. Birth order, gender, locus of control, and coping behaviors emerged as areas needing further study. Additionally, the belief on the part of the abusing parents that abuse was not wrong needs further investigation as a possible precursor to this particular context for conceptual change.

The history of psychological theories illustrates a pattern of the building and testing of grand theories of the early twentieth century, such as behaviorism and Piaget's genetic epistemology, giving way to the smorgasbord of minitheories encompassed in the information processing model. Medicine has followed a similar pattern, with the general practitioner of the early twentieth century having virtually been replaced with a myriad of specialists we are able to consult with today.The early theorists who studied and wrote about resilience described it as a domain general trait developed across contexts and exhibited as a reasonably stable characteristic. The overall contribution of this special series is to add to a conversation about resilience as a multidimensional characteristic, begging the question of how resilience differs by context, time, age, gender, and cultural background. The domains from which these articles have come-nursing, special education, adult victims of abuse, infancy, and school administration-represent a second generation of voices in the growing interest in resilience. As with all second generations, these authors have drawn significantly from the foundation of the first generation. To those who opened the field, we are indebted.Patterson's Understanding Family Resilience (2002) makes significant contributions to our understanding of resilience in the public health arena. Using families as the unit of analysis, Patterson explains the importance of family appraisals and the ways in which they affect the trajectory of resilience. Patterson clarifies confusing terminology, such as distinguishing between life risk that leads to family strength approaches and resilience that operates despite significant risk. One way in which the second generation of research on resilience will contribute is in the policy arena, and Patterson's potential policy applications is another strength of her article.Rak (2002) is based on work with a unique sample of individuals who were abused as children but have spontaneously, without intervention, become nonabusive parents. Wilkes characterizes resilience as an exemplar of conceptual change and draws from the cognitive psychology literature on the nature of conceptual change and its prerequisites. Another of Wilkes' contributions is the investigation into the nature of locus of control in adults who were abused, and the suggestion that the dichotomy between internal and external loci is not sufficient to explain the difference in this population between events that are within a person's control and those that are outside a person's control. Additional contributions of Wilkes' study are the identification of several areas needing further study including birth order effects, the belief systems of the abusers, and the nature of positive and negative coping behaviors in resilient individuals.Morrison, Robertson, Laurie, and Kelly's Protective Factors and Antisocial Behaviors (2002) discusses resilience as a trajectory which is dynamic, not static. Morrison suggests tha...

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