Chapter 9 Resilience & Stress in Childhood

CHAPTER 9:
Resilience and Stress in
Childhood
Guidance of Young Children
Ninth Edition
Marian Marion
© 2015, 2011, 2007 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Marion. Guidance of Young Children, 9e.
9-2
Resilience in Young Children

9-3
Resilience in Young Children
Ability to recover relatively quickly from misfortune
without being overwhelmed or acting in
dysfunctional ways
Many children experience stress which can be
traumatic
Those who develop resilience are somewhat
protected from stress

9-4
Protective factors that foster resilience
Caring relationships
–Resilient children have been able to connect with at
least one caring and compassionate person who
models confidence and positive action
–Typically an authoritative adult
High expectations
–Assists children in becoming resilient
–Helps children develop competence, control, and
worth
Opportunities for participation
–Identify interests
–Encourage participation

9-5
Types of Stressors

9-6
Types of Stressors
Physical stressors
 Forms of excessive stimulation that injure or can
potentially injure the tissue of some part of the body
 Examples include: excessively loud noises, extremely
harsh lighting, decreased or lack of oxygen, extreme
heat or cold, injuries, infections, and drugs
 Perceived as painful or unpleasant

9-7
Types of Stressors
Psychological stressors
 Forms of excessive stimulation with the potential to threaten a
child’s sense of well-being or to keep a child from developing a
sense of well-being
 Perceived stressors vary and differ depending on the child
 Most likely to occur when a child cannot understand, evaluate, or
cope effectively with some internal or external event
 May occur when something keeps them from fulfilling
fundamental needs
 Combination of physical and psychological stressors
 May experience a blending of physical and psychological
stressors following an event

9-8
Acute and Chronic Stress

9-9
Acute and Chronic Stress
Acute Stress
•Most common form of stress
•Intense stress that occurs suddenly
•Can be physical, psychological, or a combination of
the two
•Tends to subside as abruptly as it started
Chronic Stress
•Persistent stress that remains for long periods or
forever
•Effects accumulate and cause problems even for well
adjusted children

9-10
Sources of Stress

9-11
Sources of Stress
 Internal sources of stress
• Come from within a child
• May include hunger pangs, shyness, headaches
• May stem from thoughts or emotions
 External sources of stress
• In a child’s family
• In school

9-12
How Stress Affects Children

9-13
How Stress Affects Children
 Physical effects of stress
• Stress, white blood cells, and resistance to infections
• Stress affects a child’s brain
– Excessive amounts of stress hormones which can
kill brain cells and reduce the number of
connections among brain cells
 Behavioral and psychological effects
• An issue to ponder about behavioral indicators of
stress
– May lead to oppositional defiant disorder
– One of the treatments involves training parents

9-14
ALARM, APPRAISAL, SEARCH FOR A COPING
STRATEGY
STAGES IN RESPONDING TO STRESS

9-15
Alarm
Child stops and orients toward or focuses on
the potential stressful event

9-16
Appraisal
Involves reviewing what this event meant in the past
Developmental level in terms of memory and
perception: Does not occur for infants and young
children
Child’s experience with adults who have modeled
how to look at and evaluate events
Self-esteem: Affects how stress-inducing events are
viewed and dealt with

9-17
Searching for a Coping Strategy
First possibility: a child is familiar with an event, has
actively dealt with it in the past, and used a good
coping strategy
Second possibility: a child is familiar with an event,
has actively dealt with it in the past, but used an
ineffective coping strategy
Third possibility: a child is familiar with the stressor
but has not dealt with it firsthand
Fourth possibility: a child is totally unfamiliar with a
stressor

9-18
Coping Effectively with Stress

9-19
What is coping?
• Refers to looking for something inside or outside
oneself to come to terms with stressors
Different ways of coping with stress
• Some people cope by getting information about the
stressor
• Others cope by taking direct action
• Some people by restraining movements or actions
• Still others cope with stress by denying or avoiding
the problem

9-20
Can young children cope effectively with stress?
• No, because to cope well one must
–able to think about more than one thing at a time
–be able to invent alternative ways of solving a
problem
–be able to manage unpleasant emotions
–understand the effect of your reactions
–be able to think purposefully
• Young children tend to lack these abilities

9-21
General Guidelines for
Helping Children Cope with
Stress

9-22
General Guidelines for Helping
Children Cope with Stress
 Model good stress management
 Manage your classroom to be a low-stress
environment
 Acknowledge and learn about the variety of
stressors in children’s lives
 Act as a buffer between a child and a stressor
 Teach children how to relax and to calm themselves
 Learn and teach good coping skills
 Work with families

9-23
Suggestions for Helping
Children Who Face the
Stress of Moving

9-24
Suggestions for Helping Children
Who Face the Stress of Moving
Moving interrupts friendships and children lose social
support
Moving elicits unpleasant emotions
Moving interrupts the separation process
Moving requires children to adjust to a new
curriculum in school and different teacher
expectations
Moving interrupts school and social services

9-25
Protect children who are experiencing
stress (act as a ‘buffer’)
When a child moves away from your school or classroom
Talk with the child about moving away and help him understand
about his new school, listen carefully and encourage the child to
talk about his feelings, help him say goodbye in a positive way,
make sure accurate records are transferred quickly, work with
child’s parents
When a child moves to your school or classroom
Obtain the child’s file, make a home visit if able; familiarize the
child and family with the school, your schedule, and classroom
routines; learn about the child’s interests, request children to act
as guides, read a book with the class, use name tags, work with
parents

Chapter 9 Resilience & Stress in Childhood

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