Stress Coping And Resiliency In Children And Families

Concern with stress and coping has a long history in biomedical, psychological and sociological research. The inadequacy of simplistic models linking stressful life events and adverse physical and psychological outcomes was pointed out in the early 1980s in a series of seminal papers and books. The issues and theoretical models discussed in this work shaped much of the subsequent research on this topic and are reflected in the papers in this volume. The shift has been away from identifying associations between risks and outcomes to a focus on factors and processes that contribute to diversity in response to risks. Based on the Family Research Consortium's fifth summer institute, this volume focuses on stress and adaptability in families and family members. The papers explore not only how a variety of stresses influence family functioning but also how family process moderates and mediates the contribution of individual and environmental risk and protective factors to personal adjustment. They reveal the complexity of current theoretical models, research strategies and analytic approaches to the study of risk, resiliency and vulnerability along with the central role risk, family process and adaptability play in both normal development and childhood psychopathology.

In spite of the increase in stress-coping research, little is known about how stress is actually perceived by children in the family setting. This is due in part to the real difficulties involved in collecting data on children's subjective experiences. In addition, what we currently know about children's stress and coping has traditionally derived from adult reporters, rather than from the children themselves. Filling a gap in the literature, this volume explores theoretical and methodological issues related to the study of children and families in general, and to stress-coping phenomena from the child's perspective in particular. The book challenges traditional deference to adult assessment of stress and coping among children by drawing data from both parents and children, revealing significant contrasts between the two. Through open-ended, qualitative measures of children's diaries and drawings, the book offers a glimpse into the inner world of the child and gives scholarly expression to the fact that children can, and readily will, articulate needs and perceptions if given an appropriate vehicle. The book's well-documented chapters discuss traditional approaches to stress and coping, implications for current child and family study, specific needs related to the study of children within the family, and implications for theory and methods. Taxonomies of children's stressors, coping responses, and coping resources are drawn from the data and examined in detail. The book concludes with suggestions for future research and clinical practice. Providing fascinating insight into children's actual experience of stress and coping, this volume lays the groundwork for ongoing research, scholarship, and therapeutic practice. Academicians, practitioners, and graduate students in family studies, child development, psychology, and nursing will find this book invaluable in shedding light on the often overlooked culture of children.

Resilience is a much-talked-about topic these days. The view that resilience is an important aspect of mental well-being has been gaining attention among health professionals and researchers. Tatyana Barankin and Nazilla Khanlou draw from the latest research and theoretical developments on resilience in children and youth and present it in a way that is relevant for a diverse audience, including parents, educators, health care providers, daycare workers, coaches, social service providers, policy makers and others. Among the unique contributions of this book is that the authors consider the development of resilience at three levels. Growing Up Resilient explores the individual, family and environmental risk and protective factors that affect young people's resilience: individual factors: temperament, learning strengths, feelings and emotions, self-concept, ways of thinking, adaptive skills, social skills and physical health family factors: attachment, communication, family structure, parent relations, parenting style, sibling relations, parents' health and support outside the family environmental factors: inclusion (gender, culture), social conditions (socio-economic situation, media influences), access (education, health) and involvement. Tips on how to build resilience in children and youth follow each section. The ability for children and youth to bounce back from today's stresses is one of the best life skills they can develop. Growing Up Resilient is a must-read for adults who want to increase resilience in the children and youth in their lives.

Many children's behavioral problems have multiple causes, and most children with one problem behavior also have others. The co-occurence and interrelatedness of risk factors and problem behavior is certainly an important area of research. This volume recognizes the complexity of the developmental processes that influence coping and resilience and the roles sociocultural factors play. The contributors focus on four themes that have emerged in the study of risk and coping over the past decade: interrelatedness of risk and problems, individual variability in resilience and susceptibility to stress, processes and mechanisms linking multiple stressors to multiple outcomes, and interventions and prevention. Psychologists, pediatricians, and others involved in the research or care of children will take great interest in this text.

"Happy families are ones where parents can recognise both their own and their children's needs, and where children are resilient and are able to negotiate relationships with those around them. Families Coping seeks to build these skills and provides the tools to do so. Families Coping brings together two frameworks - positive parenting skills and the transactional model of stress and coping - to create a program of positive psychology aimed at parents, children and counselling professionals. It provides a toolkit for parents that can be used in a self-help mode or as an instructor-led program. It brings together tried and true principles of good parent-child relationships, which will benefit the family through childhood years and beyond. Families Coping includes exercises for both parents and children, tools and techniques for building resilience, information on additional coping services and resources and more."

Despite the numerous benefits derived from major technological and medical innovations of the past century, we continue to live in a world rife with significant social problems and challenges. Children continue to be born into lives of poverty; others must confront daily their parent’s mental illness or substance abuse; still others live amid chronic family discord or child abuse. For some of these children, life’s difficulties become overwhelming. Their enduring trauma can lead to a downward spiral, until their behavioral and emotional problems become lifelong barriers to success and wellbeing. Almost no one today would deny that the world is sometimes an inhospitable, even dangerous, place for our youth. Yet most children—even those living in high-risk environments—appear to persevere. Some even flourish. And this begs the question: why, in the face of such great odds, do these children become survivors rather than casualties of their environments? For many decades, scholars have pursued answers to the mysteries of resilience. Now, having culled several decades of research findings, the editors of this volume offer an in-depth, leading-edge description and analysis of Resilience in Children, Families and Communities: Linking Context to Practice and Policy. The book is divided into three readily accessible sections that both define the scope and limits of resilience as well as provide hands-on programs that families, neighborhoods, and communities can implement. In addition, several chapters provide real-life intervention strategies and social policies that can be readily put into practice. The goal: to enable children to develop more effective problem-solving skills, to help each child to improve his or her self-image, and to define ways in which role models can affect positive outcomes throughout each child’s lifetime. For researchers, clinicians, and students, Resilience in Children, Families and Communities: Linking Context to Practice and Policy is an essential addition to their library. It provides practical information to inform greater success in the effort to encourage resilience in all children and to achieve positive youth development.

Covers all major topics relevant to clinical social work. Discusses social work practice, multicultural and diversity issues, and research, as well as assessment and measurement.