"Making it": the components and process of resilience among urban, African-American, single mothers.

In contrast to the bulk of research on urban single mothers that focuses on risk and negative outcomes, this qualitative study of ten resilient mothers living in risky neighborhoods uses the women's own words to conceptualize resilience as an ongoing process of balancing risk and protective factors in eight domains. The findings question current assumptions about the universality of risk and protective factors, and point to new directions for program and policy.