Resiliency in Children and Youth

1. Resiliency in Children and Youth Toronto District School Board Model School Study Dr. Ruth Stirtzinger Thursday, May 24, 2012

2. Resilience is….. The capacity of a dynamic system to withstand or recover from significant challenges that threaten its stability, viability or development

3. Developmental Research Developmental Research states it is: • the capacity, processes or outcomes of successful adaptation in the context of significant threats to function or development • doing well in life despite adversity

4. Two Components of Risk • threat, adversity, trauma Good Adaptation • competence, adjustment, health

5. Resilience helps • move through adversity • overcome childhood disadvantage • recover from trauma • reach out to new opportunities

6. People who are resilient are • healthier and live longer • more successful in life • happier in relationships • less prone to depression

7. Tools of Resilience • calming and focusing • thought catching • connections – how we feel and what we do • challenging beliefs • detecting barriers • putting the ‘catastrophic’ into perspective • freeing self from thinking traps • generating alternatives – finding new coping and problem solving

8. What groups have been researched? • child soldiers • immigrants and refugees • survivors of natural disasters • orphaned or maltreated children • children from uneducated or impoverished families

9. To Study Resilience - need - • Criteria for ‘doing OK’ in life • competence in developmental tasks • health • subjective well-being • Measures of Risk • adversive life experiences (acute and chronic, and cumulative)

10. Measures of what might make a difference • personal attributes, relationships, context • promotive and protective factors in child, relationships, family, school, and community

11. Risk and Problems Snowball • transitions increase risks in a concentrated time window • emotional, behavioural, educational and health problems rise as risk levels rise • developmental cascades occur (one kind of problem leads to another) BUT Assets also pile up

12. Consider • Cumulative risk gradient – the more risk factors – the lower the function if few protective factors • Homelessness – high risk factor for children • Parent involvement in child’s school – a protective factor

13. Consider further • Parenting quality moderates risk • Executive functioning mediates parenting effect on academic success

14. Elements of Resilience in Young People • close relationships with competent caregivers • connections to other competent adults • problem solving and self regulating skills • positive self perception • hope, belief, faith, meaningful affiliations

15. Elements of Resilience (cont’d) • SES advantages • pro social peers • connection to effective schools and organizations • community safety and collective effecacy

16. Greatest Dangers for Children • parent killed or disabled • separation from secure base • brain injury • mastery motivation system extinguished • faith and hope, life meaning destroyed • persistent severe trauma overwhelms all adaptive capacity of child and family

17. Mobilizing and Improving Adaptive Systems • foster secure attachments • improve bonds with competent/caring adults • support healthy family formation and functions • foster friendship with pro social peers • foster school bonding and engagement • improve systems of care • nurture brain development

18. Mobilizing and Improving (cont’d) • provide opportunities to succeed and develop talents • support cultural traditions which provide adaptive tools and opportunities to connect with pro social adults