Question

Billy and Kyle are both evaluated at a child assessment clinic at age 6. Billy comes from an affluent, loving and intact family. He is meeting all developmental tasks and is well adjusted. Kyle is living in poverty with his maternal grandmother after being abandoned by his parents. He is scoring in the clinically significant range on measures that test for behavioral problems. Years later, both boys are re-evaluated, and both are found to be well adjusted and developing normally. Kyle reports that he became active in sports and was mentored by caring adults over the years. This is an example of... a. Resilience: but also equifinality because two different pathways led to the same outcome b. Multifinality (this is when the same pathway leads to different outcomes, see p. 25) c. Unstable, maladaptive development. d. Non-normative development.

Answer 1

Answer:

a) Resilience

Explanation:

In psychology, resilience refers to the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma or significant sources of stress (like family and relationship problems or financial stressors). It's not only about adapting well to those but also to "bounce back" from them and come out being stronger and better than how one was before the stressors came into our lives.

At 6 year old, Billy met all developmental tasks and showed well adjust (he had a loving family). Kyle tested clinically significant for behavioral problems (he was living in poverty after being abandoned by his parents).

Years later, both of them are evaluated and are found well adjusted and developing normally. Kyle mentioned that he became active in sports and was mentored by caring adults.

We can see that Kyle had significant sources of stress while growing up (family problems and financial problems) but he bounce back from them by starting to play sports and have mentors in his life who gave him the support he needed.

Thus, the right answer is a) Resilience (we can say that it's also "equifinality" whose definition is " how different early experiences in life can lead to similar outcomes" although is important to notice that equifinality is usually used to refer to negative outcomes while resilience is used to refer to positive ones)

Note:

b) Multifinality: Both boys had the same outcome at the end so this is not an example of multifinality.

c) Unstable, maladaptive development: Both bous were well adjusted and developing normal so this cannot be the answer.

d) Non-normative development: This term refers to the development that doesn't go according to the rules according to the stage people are going through. In this case, both boys are developing normal.