The development of social adaptation

1. The development of social adaptation Stress and resilience 17th of January

2. Program • Information about the course content, and lectures • Information about the seminars and exams • Introduction to resilience - What is resilience about? • Summary

3. Definition of resilience What is resilience about? Research on resilience Resilience processes Risks and protective factors Resilience

4. What is resilience?

5. Resilience Resilience are defined as: ……positive adaptation in the context of sigificant risk or adversity……… • ”Resiliens er prosesser som gjør at utviklingen når et tilfredsstillende resultat, til tross for at barn har hatt erfaringer med situasjoner som innebærer en relativt stor risiko for å utvikle problemer eller avvik” (Rutter 2000)

6. Understanding Resilience Two maincomponents: • There must be evidence for positive adaptation, and • That there are or have been significant risk to overcome

7. What is positive adaptation? • “doing okay” • Researchers have provided a variety of criteria’s. • Absence of mental health problems, or • Competence in developmental tasks

8. Resilience • Resilience is not a constant phenomenon, a person may be resilient at one time, but this does not mean that this person is invulnerable to other risks later in life. • Individuals may be resilient to some environmental hazards but not others; resilience cannot be identified as an individual trait.

9. Research on resilience A new focus: • From studying maladaptation to adaptation • The rise of a new research focus • Longitudinal research design

10. Psychosocial risks Research on resilience Protective factor Behavioural outcome Biological risks

11. Longitudinal studies example: • Werner and Smith (1977; 1982; 1992; 2001) - Kauai study • White and colleges (1990) - Dunedin study • Tremblay and colleges (1992, 2000) - Montrealstudy • The norwegian MoBa study

12. Resilience processes • Vulnerability and risk- The compensating modell Risk Psychosocial Adaptation Interventions ( s 42, Resiliens, 2005)

13. Protection model RiskPsychosocial outcome Protective factor (S 43, Resiliens, 2005)

14. Risk and protective factors • Individual differences • Family characteristics • Community Resources

15. Risk factors • Research have identified factors or criteria’s to predict higher rates of negative outcomes, than others • Risks and stress does not necessary lead to difficulties • Risks should be characterized in relation to relevance, type and seriousness.

16. Individual differences • Biological or genetic predispositions • Premature birth • IQ • Gender • Temperament • Personality

17. Family characteristics • Mental illness in parents • Addiction to alcohol or drugs • Socio economic status • Maternal education • Disharmony/divorce • Neglect • Family size

18. Divorce

19. Community • War • Violence within the community • Poverty

20. Protective factors • Reduce the effect of the risk factors • Sustain and establish a positive self image.

21. Protective qualities • Positive network/organization • Individual differences • Positive relationships • Competences • Social support • ”Sence of coherence”

22. Community resources Eks: • Quality of schools and day care centres • Social networks • Good social services and health care

23. Individual qualities Eks: • Cognitive abilities • Positive temperament • Self-esteem • Competence in example sports • Personality • Self-regulation skills • Positive outlook on life • At least one secure attachment • Having friends

24. Self-esteem

25. Family characteristics Eks: • Higher education • Less than 4 siblings • Good economy • Social support from siblings • Parental style • Maternal warmth

26. Parent-child relations

27. Multi-risk modell Multiple risk factors increases the possibility for maladaptation Multiple Risks, Higer Risks?

28. E-Risk study Kim-Cohen, Moffitt, Caspi og Taylor, (the E-Risk study)() Investigated outgoing temperament and maternal warmth as protective factors in children living under low SES. Low SES was associated with low IQ and higher antisocial behavior. Resilience against low SES, was found to be partly heritable, Hence protective factors was connected to both environment and protective factors.

29. Factors • Resilience involves understanding underlying processes or mechanisms • There is a need to understand interaction between individual differences and the environment (nature/nurture) Thus: • Resilience is the study of individual differences in response to stress or adversity.

30. Example: Genotype and environment • Dunedin study, Caspi, et al 2002. • This study examined the association between antisocial behaviour and maltreatment in childhood. • Results showed- more severe maltreatment, more engangement in antisocial behaviour. • Low activity in the MAOA gene- reported more stronger effect

31. Interactionnature/nurture

32. Summary • Resilience is a process in witch a person must be “doing okay” after overcoming severe risks • One must look at resilience indirectly examining underlying mechanisms in the environment and the person. • Risk and protective factors interact and can intervene or enhance each other.