The purpose of this longitudinal exploratory study was to investigate the protective processes that promote psychosocial competence in children who are at risk for maladaptive development. A resiliency model was developed and tested on a sample of 171 Anglo-American children (80 male and 91 female) of adolescent mothers living in two-parent families. Secondary data analysis was conducted on variables measured in Waves 1 and 2 of the National Survey of Children. In Phase One of the analysis, regression models that used multiple risk factors in the prediction of competency were applied to determine residual values for each individual. Phase Two used these residual values to categorize individuals into resilient and vulnerable groups for each competency criterion. Phase Three involved a multivariate profile analysis to test the moderating associations of eight protective factors for the resilient and vulnerable groups. All three phases of the analysis were conducted separately for external (action-oriented) competency and internal (thought-oriented) competency. Outcomes for external competency. Difficult temperament in childhood emerged as a strong risk predictor of external competency in adolescence. Results of the equal group effects test indicated support for overall group differences with higher resilient group means across the eight protective factors. However, multivariate analysis of the resilient and vulnerable groups also indicated a group by protective factor interaction. Univariate tests detected group differences for the following factors: (a) gender, (b) the child's aspirations for post-secondary education, (c) mother-child relations, and (d) academic progress
