Building children's resilience

Prepared for Child and Youth Mental Health Services - British Columbia Ministry of Children and Family Development Welcome Winter 2008 — Building Children's Resilience Welcome to the Winter 2008 issue of the Children’s Mental Health Research Quarterly, produced by the Children’s Health Policy Centre at Simon Fraser University. [...] The parent-child relationship is particularly important.3 The early environment provided by caregivers has a profound impact on long-term patterns of emotional, cognitive and social functioning.6 Consistent nurturing fosters resilience and reinforces innate strengths.3 Supportive and responsive caregivers are critical in buffering the negative effects of adversity and stress.3 Researchers have als [...] Given the enduring importance of parenting, the family environment is a vital target for intervention, particularly in the case of families at risk.3 Accordingly, we present research in this issue on a range of parenting interventions that improve parenting and foster positive parent-child relationships. [...] In explaining the positive outcomes for most individuals, Werner and Smith described the extraordinary importance of the early childhood years in creating a foundation for resilience. [...] Positive parent-child relationships promote children’s brain development,1 academic functioning,2 social competence,3 mental health2 and self-esteem.2 Responsive caregiving also buffers children from the negative impacts of adversity and stress.3 In contrast, abusive parenting is one of the most significant risk factors for negative child outcomes.4 Given the benefits of skillful caregiving, paren