Resilience in Children at High Risk for Psychological Disorder

This longitudinal study examined factors related to healthy adjustment in young children who had experienced conditions and stresses known to carry a substantial risk of adverse outcome. Psychological adjustment of 109 children at age 6 to 7 years was examined for its relationship to infancy risk status, determined at age 1 month by means of a multifactor screen assessing perinatal stress, psychological problems and stresses in the family, maternal attitudes toward self and parenthood, and maternal perceptions of infant temperament. Several variables believed to mediate outcome for high-risk children were studied, including subsequent stressful life events, social support available to child and mother, and child's locus of control orientation. Interactions between predictor variables showed that life events magnify synergistically the adverse effects of infancy risk factors, and social support and internal control orientation potently buffer the effects of risk and stress. Considered jointly in conjunction with their interactions, the predictor variables were strongly predictive of outcome, explaining 56% of the variance observed in behavior problems and 64% of the variance in school problems.