EmotionalResilienceImplicationsforYouCanDoIt.pdfVIP

Emotional Resilience: Implications for You Can Do It! Education Theory and Practice Michael E. Bernard, Ph.D. Founder, You Can Do It! Education Professor, College of Education California State University, Long Beach Principal Fellow, University of Melbourne Introduction Over the past decade, You Can Do It! has clearly shown that the human capital necessary for young people to be successful and happy resides in a positive mental make-up. Research has clearly shown that young people who possess confidence, persistence, organisation, and getting along skills (the 4 Foundations) are likely to achieve to the best of their ability and possess good mental health in comparison to under-achieving, unhappy/angry young people who have not acquired these capabilities. Recent research conducted in Australia, England, and the United States also shows that young people with achievement and behavioural problems not only are low in the 4 Foundations, they also demonstrate – in comparison with relatively “problem-free” young people – higher degrees of anxiety/low self-esteem, general work avoidance, general disorganisation, and anger/rebelliousness. In light of this recent research, theoretical developments in the field of emotional intelligence (e.g., Bar-On Parker, 2000), and child development research that specifically examines the social-emotional competence called emotion regulation (e.g., Salovey Sluyter, 1997), it has become clear that in order to describe (and teach) the full range of social-emotional competences leading to young people’s success and happiness, it is necessary to include a social-emotional competence that addresses the negative minds