This book chapter presents an approach to the concept of 'resilience', the strategies that people use to cope with adversities such as poverty or conflict. For children, much attention has been paid to whether they can in some way overcome early disadvantage, although they are much more susceptible to poverty than adults, particularly due to the effect of under-nutrition. They argue that more dynamic approaches are called for which recognise that the trajectories children follow throughout their lives are constantly modified. They argue that more attention needs to be given to the interaction of genetic and social and political impacts on poverty, as well as the structural influences.

Jo Boyden and Elizabeth Cooper (2009) 'Questioning the Power of Resilience: Are Children up to the Task of Disrupting the Transmission of Poverty' in Poverty Dynamics: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, edited by Tony Addison, David Hulme and Ravi Kanbur, Oxford: Oxford University Press.