Combating childhood trauma one relationship at a time

Researchers point to the influence of positive, nurturing relationships to strengthen a child’s resilience and combat negative outcomes of ACEs.

Concept of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs):

• Traumatic events during a child’s formative years
• ACEs put children at higher risk of negative, pervasive outcomes in later life, i.e. academic mental health issues, academic performance, and/or physical challenges
• Effects of ACEs are cumulative – the more individual experiences, the more likely are negative outcomes
• ACEs can reduce the ability to cope with trauma

Influence of Positive Childhood Experiences (PCEs):

• 2019 JAMA Pediatrics report found that  respondents who reported more positive childhood experiences were 72% less likely to suffer from poor mental health
• 2019 JAMA Pediatrics report concluded that positive experiences can help boost resilience
• Researcher underlines the importance of focusing on the presence of positives in a child’s life, not just the negative

Switching to a preventative mindset:

• To bolster resilience in children to better enable them to cope with ACEs
• “The more we can prevent from happening, the healthier we are as a society — physically, psychologically, economically, socially." (Alfonso, a professor at Gonzaga University's School of Education)
  • With time, collective resilience will curtail the generational cycle of ACEs

Examples of preventative approaches:

• Efficacy of early childhood education, programs like Head Start
• Resilience as a product of compassionate community and network of resources: conditions like civic involvement and ample support structures tend to create fertile ground for positive experiences
• Biggest protective factors: the presence of a safe, stable, nurturing relationship

Power of positive relationships:

• Mitigating factor against negative outcomes of ACEs
• Even a single, nurturing relationship can combat the toxic effects of multiple ACEs (Turner-Depue, interim director of the Child and Family Research Unit at Washington State University)
• Researches point to how the COVID 19-pandemic has shown the critical importance of positive relationships to counter adversity and challenges