Two fundamental concepts are associated with resiliency: risk and protective factors. 

Risk factors are disabling, cultural, economic, or medical conditions that deny or minimize opportunities and resources for optimal human development.  Risk factors can be internal (within the person) or external (involving the family, school/work, and community).

Protective factors are those qualities or situations that help alter or reverse expected negative outcomes.  Resiliency can be promoted by providing and nurturing these protective factors in an individual’s life.  In a review of the literature and research on the development of resiliency, stress-resistant or “invulnerable” individuals have common protective factors operating as two broad sets of developmental strengths:

• extrinsic factors such as family, peers, school and community, and
• intrinsic factors or personality characteristics such as empowerment, self-control, cultural sensitivity, self-concept and social sensitivity.

As such, the developmental strengths that contribute to resiliency exist within the individual and through the situational and relational experiences related to family, peers, school and community.  In particular, the additive effect of both intrinsic and extrinsic strengths have shown that individuals are able to cope with adversity more effectively than those that experience fewer of the developmental strengths.