Children in poverty: Resilience despite risk

Two objectives provided the focus for the Conference on Community Violence and Children's Development that was jointly sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. One was to examine the evidence for deficit behaviors that characterized children reared in poverty; the second was to identify the characteristics of children who sustained their competencies despite being reared in comparable environments. These dual objectives took this form: "What can we conclude from studies of children, their families, and environments about characteristics that predispose children to maladjustment following exposure to violence, and about characteristics that protect children from such adjustment problems following, or in the midst of, violence exposure?" VioLit summary: OBJECTIVE: The intent of this article by Garmezy was to identify the differences between children who do not suffer maladjustment despite exposure to violence, and children who do suffer maladjustment as a result of exposure to violence. METHODOLOGY: The author employed a non-experimental design by reviewing literature on the effects of cumulative risk factors for children with maladjustment difficulties. The author then identified the protective factors which helped provide healthy development in children, despite their exposure to violence and other potentially maladaptive experiences. FINDINGS/DISCUSSION: One study (Rutter 1979) identified six variables, linked to the family, which created a cumulative effect that increased the likelihood of maladjustment for each factor which was present. The factors included marital discord, low socioeconomic status, an overcrowded environment or large family size, paternal criminal behavior, maternal psychiatric disorder, and foster home placement. Findings by two other researchers (Kolvin 1988, Sameroff 1982, 1984, 1989, 1990) supported the notion of cumulative effects although their categories differed slightly. All three studies noted the combination of negative sociocultural elements and negative biological elements as especially problematic in producing positive outcomes. Resiliency, the power to recover from difficult environmental or biological circumstances, appeared in one study but the children became increasingly less competent as they were tested over time (another potential example of the effects of cumulated stress, especially stress over time). Although research on the factors central to resiliency was scarce, the author did note that signs of emotional distress were not necessarily suggestive of a breakdown in resilient behavior. On the contrary, some research (Werner 1989; Werner and Smith 1982, 1992) had indicated that although adult survivors of childhood trauma demonstrated good coping with adult responsibilities, life satisfaction or happiness were not always also present. Another study (Coatsworth 1991) identified competence items for measuring success in adaptation: Academic and job performance, obedience to the law, expectations for appropriate social conduct with adults, relating well to peers, maintaining close relations with friends, and preliminary signs of developing romantic relationships. The author cautioned, however, that such competence items were rarely utilized in research on adaptive individuals and therefore the understanding of resiliency factors was minimal. Several protective factors were also identified which could lead to eventual competence, including temperament factors (reflectiveness, cognitive skills, positive responsiveness to others), families characterized as warm and cohesive, and the presence of an external support (teacher, neighbor, parents of peers) (Garmezy 1985). To confound the issue, however, Festinger (1983) tracked 277 young adult men who had been placed in foster care as young boys and determined that the overall adaptation to adult life was no different than the family-reared men she randomly selected as a control group. AUTHOR'S RECOMMENDATIONS: The author closed with the suggestion to address the scientific and political facets of understanding resilience. The scientific challenges, according to the author, required further research on biological, genetic, and social-developmental elements which effected resiliency. The political challenges included, most importantly, a serious examination of the effects of poverty on family survivorship and a resulting strategy for addressing poverty. Finally, intensive studies on shifts in individual adaptation and the correlates of this adaptation, argued the author, required additional longitudinal studies. (CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado) KW - Child Witness KW - Child Development KW - Youth Development KW - Poverty KW - Socioeconomic Factors KW - At Risk Child KW - At Risk Youth KW - Exposure to Violence KW - Witnessing Violence Effects KW - Literature Review KW - Family Relations KW - Witness Adjustment KW - Child Adjustment KW - Emotional Adjustment KW - Individual Risk Factors KW - Individual Risk Factors KW - Resiliency KW - Domestic Violence Effects KW - Domestic Violence Victim KW - Child Abuse Effects KW - Child Abuse Victim KW - Child Victim KW - Victim Adjustment KW - Family Environment KW - Family Risk Factors KW - Family Protective Factors Language: en