The study of the effects of child mistreatment, including sexual abuse, neglect and physical abuse, suggest that the interaction between exposure to adverse experience and risk or protective factors produces a variety of phenotypic expressions; this variety includes both individuals with severe psychopathology and individuals seeming well-adapted. In substance, positive adaptation means competence with respect to behavioral, social and/or cognitive functioning (despite past or present maltreatment) and well-adapted individuals are considered resilient. This adjective is derived from resilience, term that has been improperly used as synonym of invulnerability, stress-resistance, adaptability. Reviews of literature show that resilience is currently considered a dynamic and multidimensional developmental process involving positive adaptation within the context of significant adversity. There are several variables that influence, in a positive or negative manner, the development of resilience: protective and risks factors. Investigators have identified a triad of protective factors: 1) dispositional / temperamental attributes of the child, including higher cognitive ability, positive self-esteem, internal "locus of control" for good events, external "locus of control" for abuse (or external attribution of blame), spirituality, ego-resiliency, coping strategies; 2) familial cohesion; 3) extrafamilial support. The three elements of this triad often collaborate in determining resilience, in opposition to risks factors usually coexisting in maltreatment situations (as low socio-economic level or maternal depression). In research on resilience some methodological features are more important in regard to data collection: all the sources of data, as parents', teachers' and peers' ratings, with the help of intelligence and achievement tests and grades in school, but also children’s self-reports.
