I study competence, risk and resilience in human development, with a focus on the processes leading to positive adaptation and outcomes in young people whose lives are threatened by adversity. In collaboration with many terrific colleagues and students, I have studied adaptation in diverse populations of young people and their families, including normative school children, low-income and homeless families, immigrants and refugees, war survivors and victims of natural disaster. The ultimate goals of this work are to build a better science of resilience and to inform efforts to promote positive development, reduce risk, ameliorate suffering, and facilitate recovery in children and families threatened by negative life circumstances.   

My recent research in the Twin Cities in recent years has been focused particularly on understanding and promoting school success in homeless and highly mobile (HHM) children, collaborating with a team of committed partners from school districts, shelters, county and community agencies, as well as the university. This program of research includes basic and translational projects, with a focus on protective systems that are strongly implicated as important for resilience and also malleable with strategic intervention. To study the big picture, we analyze district-level school data sets, examining longitudinal patterns over time linking mobility, poverty, achievement and behavior. Concomitantly, we conduct more intensive studies of families residing in emergency shelters to understand and promote resilience. We currently focus on executive function, parenting, and stress response systems in families, all of which appear to play a powerful role in the well being and success of children in school. Our work is multi-level and multi-disciplinary.

I direct the Project Competence studies of risk and resilience, which include a longitudinal study of 205 children and their families recruited from an urban school district and followed for more than 20 years. Publications from this study span many topics, including the development of competence and personality, developmental cascades, the role of protective factors in resilience, the roots of adult happiness and civic engagement, and other themes. We learned that youth who overcome childhood adversity and continue on to adult success have more protections and resources in their lives than peers who do not fare as well. We also observed “late bloomers” whose lives took a dramatic turn for the better in the transition to adulthood, suggesting that new resources, opportunities, and supports converge in this window to promote positive change.

At the national and international level, I collaborate with colleagues in multiple disciplines to understand adaptation and development in relation to migration, disasters, and war. I collaborate with European colleagues in the Athena Studies of Resilient Adaptation, AStRA, which is led by Professor Frosso Motti-Stefanidi, University of Athens. Our current focus is the adaptation of immigrant youth, and the ways in which development, acculturation, and adaptation of immigrant youth are intertwined.

I am keenly interested in the integration of resilience theory and findings across disciplines and scale. I see this integration as essential for addressing global issues of potentially catastrophic magnitude, including preparation and recovery from major disasters, terrorism or war, and building capacity for human resilience in children, families, and societies around the world

Selected Publications

1. Masten, A. S., & Narayan, A. J. (2012). Child development in the context of disaster, war and terrorism: Pathways of risk and resilience. Annual Review of Psychology. [available on line]

   Masten, A. S. (in press). Risk and resilience in development. In P. D. Zelazo (Ed.), Oxford Handbook of Developmental Psychology. New York: Oxford University Press.

   Masten, A. S., Liebkind, K., & Hernandez, D. J. (2012, in press). Realizing the potential of immigrant youth. New York: Cambridge University Press.

   Sapienza, J. K., & Masten, A. S. (2011). Understanding and promoting resilience in children and youth. Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 24, 267-273.

   Masten, A. S. (2011). Resilience in children threatened by extreme adversity: Frameworks for research, practice, and translational synergy. Development and Psychopathology, 23, 141-154.

   Herbers, J. E., Cutuli, J. J., Lafavor, T. L., Vrieze, D., Leibel, C., Obradovic, J., & Masten, A. S. (2011). Direct and indirect effects of parenting on academic functioning of young homeless children. Early Education and Development, 22, 77-104.

   Masten, A. S., & Osofsky, J. (2010). Disasters and their impact on child development: Introduction to the special section. Child Development, 81, 1029-1039.

   Cutuli, J. J., Wiik, K. L., Herbers, J. E., Gunnar, M. R., & Masten, A. S. (2010). Cortisol function among early school-aged homeless children. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 35, 833-845.

   Masten, A. S., & Cicchetti, D. (Eds.) (2010). Developmental Cascades [Special Issue, Parts 1 and 2], Development and Psychopathology, 22(3), 491-715; 717-983.

   Masten, A. S., Desjardins, C. D., McCormick, C. M., Kuo, S. I-C., & Long, J. D. (2010). The significance of childhood competence for adult success in work: A developmental cascade analysis. Development and Psychopathology, 22, 681-696.

   Shaffer, A., Burt, K. B., Obradovic, J., Herbers, J. E., & Masten, A. S. (2009). Intergenerational continuity in parenting quality: The mediating role of social competence. Developmental Psychology 45, 1227-1240.

   Masten, A. S., Long, J. D., Kuo, S. I-C., McCormick, C. M., & Desjardins, C. D. (2009). Developmental models of strategic intervention. European Journal of Developmental Science, 3, 282-291.

   Obradovic, J., Long, J. D., Cutuli, J. J., Chan, C.-K., Hinz, E., Heistad, D., & Masten, A. S. (2009). Academic achievement of homeless and highly mobile children in an urban school district: Longitudinal evidence of risk, growth, and resilience. Development and Psychopathology, 21, 493-518.

   Masten, A. S. (2009). Ordinary Magic: Lessons from research on resilience in human development. Education Canada, 49(3): 28-32. http://www.cea-ace.ca/education-canada/article/ordinary-magic-lessons-research-or-resilience-human-development

   Masten, A. S., Faden, V. B., Zucker, R. A., & Spear, L. P. (2008). Underage drinking: A developmental framework. Pediatrics, 121, Supplement 4, S235-S251.

   Masten, A. S. (2007). Resilience in developing systems: Progress and promise as the fourth wave rises. Development and Psychopathology, 19, 921-930.

   Masten, A. S., & Obradovic, J. (2007). Disaster preparation and recovery: Lessons from research on resilience in human development. Ecology and Society, 13(1): 9[online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol13/iss1/art9/

   Masten, A. S. (Ed.) (2007). Multilevel dynamics in developmental psychopathology: The Minnesota Symposia on Child Psychology. Vol. 34. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

   Masten, A. S. (2006). Developmental psychopathology: Pathways to the future. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 31, 46-53.

   Masten, A. S. (2001). Ordinary magic: Resilience processes in development. American Psychologist, 56, 227-238.

   Updated October 2011