Mechanisms for Fostering Multigenerational Resilience

Family resilience is an important concept that involves both processes and outcomes. While the literature on individual resilience is vast, and that on family resilience is well supported, contemporary conversations on resilience recently included critical observations on resilience in multigenerational aging families. Given this evolution, the purpose of this paper is to explore the multigenerational nature of resilience in two ways: (1) illustrate the importance of multigenerational interdependence to family resilience processes, and (2) identify mechanisms for fostering multigenerational interdependence—both as pathways to and evidence of measurable outcomes of family resilience. We present a paradigm-to-practice manuscript that provides conceptual and practical information for family practitioners (and those who train and supervise them) to move from theories of resilience to mechanisms of resilience.