Risk and Resilience in Childhood

Define resilience

The capacity to adapt successfully to disturbances that threaten the function or development of a person.

Define systems

Different levels of factors or environments that influence a person’s ability to cope with adversity

What are some systems that could affect an individual’s resilience?

• Genetic

• Psychological

• Social

• Socioeconomic

• Cultural

What levels make up Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory?

• Microsystem

• Mesosystem

• Exosystem

• Macrosystem

• Chronosystem

What is the microsystem?

Innermost level, people and places that have a direct influence on the individual

What is the mesosystem?

Interaction between microsystems

What is the exosystem?

Things you aren’t directly involved in, but that can still affect you

What is the macrosystem?

Wider society and culture

What is the chronosystem?

Life events and historical changeds

What are 3 factors that influence resilience?

• Risk factors

• Protective factors

• Promotive factors

Define risk factor

Increase likelihood of child experiencing mental health issues

Define protective factor

Moderate relationship between risk factors and mental health issues

Define promotive factor

Enhance positive development and better adjustment regardless of risk - assets and resources that help children thrive

What is cumulative risk theory?

Negative developmental outcomes become more likely as the number of risk factors increases.

Describe Rutter’s (1979) research

• Used epidemiological research to examine why some children developed psychiatric difficulties while others didn’t

• Identified 6 environmental risk factors: Marital discord, low socioeconomic status, household overcrowding, paternal criminality, maternal psychiatric disorder, placement of child into care

• Created a cumulative risk index, but found no single risk factor best predicted poorer outcomes, however culmination of risk factors did.

What is the threshold effect?

Once adversity accumulates beyond a certain point, the likelihood of negative outcomes may increase more sharply. The threshold is not the same for every child.

What are cascading effects?

When positive or negative changes in one developmental domain trigger further changes within the same or different systems.

What types of interventions are in place for children within school settings?

• Universal - for all pupils

• Selective/targeted - for at risk pupils

• Indicated - for pupils demonstrating symptoms of mental health disorders

What is PATHS?

A social-emotional learning curriculum used in schools to help children manage behaviours and emotions. Based on the affective-behavioural-cognitive-developmental model of development.

What is Recover With Music?

• A psychosocial intervention based on Hobfall et al.’s framework for recovery after traumatic events.

• A one-day workshop of collaborative songwriting and breathing exercises to promote the resilience of girls who survived the 2018 earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia.

What were the effects of Recover With Music?

• Reduced PTSD symptoms

• Reduces anxiety

• Reduced fatalism

• Increased sense of peer support