I begin this essay with a vignette that illustrates two constructs: emo-
tional competence and self-regulation. It also illustrates a context that can
potentially lead to maladaptive behavior, but such a context can be tem-
pered by protective factors.

Six-year-old Samuel lived in a two-room apartment with his Mom
and little sister Jessie in a run-down part of the city. Gang activity,
pimping, drug dealing, and their associated violence were part of
their lives. Once their television screen had been blasted by a stray
bullet; now Mom kept the shades drawn day and night. Then some
bad news hit hard: Mom found out that she was being laid off her
day job, and the only immediate option she had was to work a night
shift in a downtown hotel. Frantically, she tried to arrange night-
time child care for the two children so that she could continue work-
ing. With time running out, Mom's last option was to persuade the
older woman down the hall to sleep in their apartment on the nights
she had to work; the woman, Mary, ambivalently agreed to try it for
a couple of weeks. Little did Mom or the children know that Mary's
adult son was a drug addict and had regularly terrorized his mother
for money to support his addiction.

Mary's son, Fred, quickly found out where she was spending the
night and managed to get her to open the apartment door. He
pushed his way in and started to stuff various objects into a large
garbage bag to take with him. Mary struck him from behind with a
lamp, and he whirled around to beat her. Samuel awakened upon
hearing the screaming, and terror struck him that it was his mother
being hurt. He felt Jessie shaking next to him and told her to hide in
the closet. He then recognized that it was Mary who was screaming.
He knew from his Mom's "emergency drills"' that he was supposed
to call 911 for help, but the phone was in the other room! He made
sure that Jessie was in the closet, and then talking softly aloud to
himself, he tried to figure out what he should do. If he could get the
lights out, then the bad man couldn't see. He knew the switch was
just outside his door, and he slowly eased open the door and flicked
off the switch. The bad man started to shout and curse; Mary was
moaning and crying. Samuel heard the front door slam, and he
peeked out into the dark room. Fortunately, his eyes had already ac-
commodated to relative darkness, and he saw that the man was

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