Over the past 20 years, resilience theory has attracted great attention from both researchers and mental health practitioners. Resilience is defi ned as a process of overcoming the negative eff ects of risk exposure, coping successfully with traumatic experiences, or avoiding the negative trajectories associated with risks. Three basic models of resilience have been proposed to account for the mechanism whereby promotive factors operate to alter the trajectory from risk exposure to negative consequences: compensatory model, protective model, and inoculation model. Assets and resources are two types of promotive factors found to be eff ective in decreasing internalizing and externalizing problems. Considering the protective or compensatory role of assets and resources in helping youth be resilient against negative eff ects of adversity, resilience could be applied to Chinese migrant and left-behind children who are at risk for internalizing (e.g., depression, anxiety) and externalizing problems (e.g., delinquent behaviors, cigarette and alcohol use). Additionally, psychological suzhi-based interventions, a mental health construct for individuals that focuses on a strengths-based approach, can be integrated with resilience-based approach to develop more balanced programs for positive youth development. © Psychological Reports 2015.

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male Internal-External Control coping behavior control female risk factor Adaptation, Psychological Risk Factors adaptive behavior China Transients and Migrants Resilience, Psychological psychology Adolescent Behavior human Humans migration Adolescent