Resilience in early childhood: Introduction to key concepts
Since the 1970’s, researchers across multiple disciplines have been intrigued by the surprising variability seen in children exposed to adversity. The very mystery of why and how one child is able to overcome exposure to risk and adversity, while another child facing a similar situation is not as fortunate, is the driving force behind the perplexing and multifaceted science of resilience.
Defining resilience and adaption
Resilience is “…the capacity of a system to adapt successfully to challenges that threaten the function, survival, or future development of the system”.
As the study of resilience evolves, so does its definition. Historically, the definition of resilience referred to an individual’s capacity to achieve mental health or avoid mental illness resulting from exposure to risk or adversity (Rutter, 2007). While a more current definition of the term, one more universal and comprehensive, defines resilience as “…the capacity of a system to adapt successfully to challenges that threaten the function, survival, or future development of the system” (Masten and Barnes, 2018, p. 1). This definition incorporates new knowledge that resilience is related to many different levels of development, from the bio-cellular level to the broad social and ecological systems (Sapienza & Masten, 2011). Similarly, the term adversity is multidimensional and refers to variety in experiences or events that carry the potential to disturb normal development enough to cause negative outcomes (Riley & Masten, 2005). Examples of adversity include: witnessing family violence, being a victim of abuse, growing up surrounded by community violence, exposure to natural disasters.
Developmental science & resilience research
The concept of resilience is essential to understanding child developmental trajectories over the life course, and as a dynamic, multidimensional process, helps to account for some of the wide spread variation seen in children exposed to adversity and trauma (Masten & O’Dougherty Wright, 2009).
As the first groundbreaking and longitudinal study of resilience, Norman Garmezy founded the Project Competence group, with the goal to better understand and explain resilience based on a set of competence criteria during age-salient developmental tasks (Masten & Obradovic, 2006). Out of the work of the Project Competence group came the developmental task theory, the first framework proposed to define positive adaption in children’s external behaviour related to overcoming adversity.
Since Garmazy’s early work in the 1970’s, the study of resilience has evolved and is categorized into four distinct phases of research. Briefly, the first phase focused on case studies describing the phenomenon of risk and resilience in children exposed to stress and adversity, while the second phase concentrated on uncovering factors known to promote positive outcomes. The study of resilience then moved into the 3rd phase of intervention research. Currently the study of resilience is in the 4th phase of research, utilizing advanced tools to measure and analyze data, as well as more multi-disciplinary and multi-level approaches to help understand the complex nature of resilience in children and families (Masten & Barnes, 2018).
Positive adaption & protective processes
It is encouraging to note that decades of resilience research highlight the importance of specific protective systems. While not a guarantee for positive child outcomes in the face of adversity, research consistently reports a short list of protective factors, many associated with the importance of family and attachment, related to promoting resilience. These include:
- Consistent and positive relationships with caring adults
- Effective caregiving and parenting
- Well-developed cognitive and problem-solving skills
- Self-regulation skills
- Perceived efficacy and control
- Achievement motivation
- Positive peer and romantic relationships
- Cultural and religious supports
- Held belief that life has meaning and purpose
- Effective and positive teachers and schools
Resilience & developmental cascades
As resilience is a dynamic and multidimensional process, the timing and targeting of these protective factors impacts how positive adaptations evolve over time and across systems. The term developmental cascades refers to how events at one point in development can lay the groundwork for future development, behaviours, and abilities (Oakes & Rakison, 2019). For example, positive adaption in one system begets positive adaption in another system, working together to prevent or minimize psychopathology in another system. The concept of developmental cascades is especially important to consider when designing and implementing resilience-based interventions and policies. A useful example to illustrate the concept of developmental cascades is the emphasis on high returns from early investments in high quality childcare to help to promote optimal development over the life course (Sapienza & Masten, 2011).
Resilience & culture
Research on resilience and culture reflects highly specific relationships between an individual’s cultural context, their social ecology, and aspects of resilience. Awareness of how cultural factors form the meaning and manifestation of resilience is key to understanding and promoting culturally relevant protective processes (Ungar, 2008). Further research is needed to better understand cross-cultural validation of protective processes that may promote positive outcomes for vulnerable children in a global context.
Resilience-based interventions & policy
Research highlights the importance of timing and targeting resilience-based interventions. Specifically, researchers report a cascading effect of competence over time, suggesting that resilience-based interventions may be most effective under specific circumstance, even when individual differences are taken into consideration (Sapienza & Masten, 2011). Therefore, it may be helpful to think of resilience-based interventions and strategies as moderating the mediator, meaning that if a mediator, such as high-quality parenting, is believed to promote positive outcomes in the face of adversity, it is important to moderate, bolster in this case, the potential positive effect that this mediator, positive parenting may have on the developmental outcome. Although research tells us that certain positive protective processes may promote resilience in children, the only way to ensure the effectiveness of resilience-based interventions and programming is the utilization of comprehensive evidence-based program evaluations.
Similar to developing resilience-based interventions, relying on insights gained from research findings and program evaluation data is essential to guide policy and practice. As an example, in the area of poverty and resilience, evidence suggests that there are a number of pathways in which poverty impacts the potential for resilience in children across multiple systems (Sapienza & Masten, 2011). Taken together, this new knowledge from research and evaluation should be used to develop innovative policies and approaches to help promote positive processes known to foster resilience in children and families exposed to adversity.
References
Masten, A. S., & Barnes, A. J. (2018). Resilience in Children: Developmental Perspectives. Children, (Basel, Switzerland), 5(7), 98. https://doi.org/10.3390/children5070098
Masten, A. S., & Obradović, J. (2006). Competence and resilience in development. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1094(1), 13-27. https://doi.org/10.1196/annals.1376.003
Masten, A., & O’Dougherty Wright, M. (2009). Resilience over the lifespan: Developmental perspectives on resistance, recovery and transformation. In J. W. Reich, A. J. Zautra & J. S. Hall (Eds.), Handbook of adult resilience (213-237). Guilford.
Oakes, L. M., & Rakison, D. H. (2019). Developmental cascades: Building the infant mind. Oxford University Press.
Riley, J. R., & Masten, A. (2005). Resilience in context. In R. D. Peters, B. Leadbeater & R. J. McMahon (Eds.), Resilience in children, families, and communities (13-25). Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.
Rutter, M. (2007). Resilience, competence, and coping. Child Abuse & Neglect, 31(3), 205-209. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2007.02.001
Sapienza, J., & Masten, A. (2011). Understanding and promoting resilience in children and youth. Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 24(4), 267-273. https://doi.org/10.1097/YCO.0b013e32834776a8
Ungar, M. (2008). Resilience across Cultures. The British Journal of Social Work, 38(2), 218-235. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcl343
