Prompt: This project focuses on identifying a challenging time in your life and considering risk and resilient factors that you can apply to this time. Furthermore, many career choices and graduate school admission include an interview, a cover letter, or a personal/diversity statement reflecting on your strengths to overcome struggles, so this will be a good practice to reflect on your life up to this point. Please consider the following questions:

Describe the challenging time that you have selected. Think about your life and try to think of a time when something happened that really changed your life or the kind of person you are. Consider (but feel free to go beyond) these questions:

How old were you at the time of the event? You can choose a past event or something that is currently occurring.

What happened? How did you feel about this time?

• Who else was present? How did they feel or react?

How did this event change the way you look at things?

• Describe 2 risk factors from the selected experience. How did the risk factors exacerbate/worsen the experience? Below are some examples.
• Risk factors
• Individual factors (e.g., poor social or problem-solving skills)
• Family factors (e.g., low family cohesion, parental psychopathology, low socioeconomic status)
• Peer factors (e.g., rejection by peers, victimization)

School factors (e.g., low teacher support, school alienation)

Social/Community factors (e.g., few community supports)

• Social-Cultural factors (e.g., socio-historical and political ideologies that lead to stereotypes)

Describe 2 resilient factors from the selected experience. How did the resilient factors mitigate the experience? Below are some examples.

• Resilient factors
• Individual factors (e.g., sense of self-efficacy)
• Family factors (e.g., parental warmth)
• Peer factors (e.g., good quality friendship)
• School factors (e.g., sense of school belonging)
• Social/Community factors (e.g., connection to significant adult)
• Social-Cultural factors (e.g., historical events that promote resiliency)

Reference: Masten, A. S., Lucke, C. M., Nelson, K. M., & Stallworthy, I. C. (2021). Resilience in development and psychopathology: Multisystem perspectives. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 17, 521-549.