Enhancing resilience for young children facing toxic stress

ABSTRACT

When a child is confronted with severe, long-lasting stressors and is not buffered from these negative circumstances by a caring and capable adult, their body's stress response system is compromised, leading to what is referred to as "toxic stress." These negative experiences early in a child's life lead to difficulties in learning, behavior, and overall physical and mental health. These challenges can be both short and long term, with potentially devastating effects on the child's ability to develop relationships, perform well in school and in the workplace, and choose healthy lifestyle habits that support physical and mental well-being. Millions of children in America, with children of color disproportionately represented, were battling toxic stress before the COVID-19 pandemic, and it is still unknown the extent to which the pandemic will exacerbate these risk factors. While it is difficult to maintain hope and optimism in the face of such overwhelming adversity, the science of resilience does help justify this position. Decades of resilience research demonstrate that key protective factors can be cultivated to support children and families to successfully confront adversity and achieve positive outcomes. These protective factors are found externally within the environment and the family as well as within the individual. This chapter will focus on those protective factors that are drawn from within children, including skills and behaviors that are strengthened through healthy relationships with parents and other important adult caregivers. Practical applications for strengthening children's within-child protective factors will be discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)