Development of resilience in young children: a mixed methods dyadic analysis of stress and coping

Abstract

Background: The study aimed to investigate children’s experiences of stress in order to better understand the psychosocial factors which impact the development of resilience. Methods: Interviews were conducted with 38 children aged 7-11 (16 girls, 22 boys) and their parents about their experiences of stress. Questionnaire data regarding stressful life events, daily hassles, and coping was collected. Interviews were analysed using thematic analysis. Questionnaires and interviews were used to code participants into four groupings based on their experience of stress and characteristics of resilience. Findings: Thematic analysis generated four themes: navigating the social minefield, pressure to thrive in the modern world, fear of the unknown and learning life’s lessons. Differences were found between the four stress-resilience groupings suggesting that previous experience of stress, greater use of social support, and use of multiple coping strategies (rather than drawing on a single coping strategy) were beneficial for the development of resilience in young children. Discussion: Allocating responses into four stress-resilience groupings allowed the researchers to identify salient psychosocial factors which characterise resilience. Participant’s narratives suggested that social relationships make up a considerable proportion of the early life stress and adversity experienced by young children. They encountered pressure to do well from multiple sources which could impact positively or negatively on their self-esteem depending on available coping strategies. Coping was reported to be more successful when dealing with familiar rather than novel or unknown stressors. The importance of learning from stressful events and how to cope was highlighted by children and their parents.