PARENTS & EDUCATORS

WELCOME!

As a parent or educator, you may be wondering what you can do to support a child's or adolescent's wellbeing during this challenging time. You're in the right place. Here you will find a brief overview of research exploring how adults can make a positive difference in the lives of young people experiencing potentially traumatic events, as well as how to identify factors that may make a child or adolescent vulnerable to the impacts of such an event. The good news is that you can make a real difference in the life of a young person. We have compiled a variety of resources that you can access from home to help you help them.

Research that has studied the experiences of children and adolescents after potentially traumatic events suggests that most young people are resilient and able to cope well with the support of parents and family members. However, some children and adolescents may experience more difficulty in adjusting after such an event. As an adult in a young person's life, there are signs you can look for to indicate that a child or adolescent may be experiencing distress and could benefit from additional support.

How can you tell if a young person might be struggling?

Children of different ages are more likely to engage in certain kinds of behaviors when they are experiencing distress. For example, preschoolers may suck their thumb, wet the bed, or cling to parents. Elementary school children may experience nightmares, show increased irritability and poor concentration, or withdraw from activities. Adolescents are more likely to exhibit unusual sleeping and eating patterns, agitation, and increasingly aggressive or delinquent behavior. The National Association of School Psychologists recommends contacting a professional if you notice that your child's or adolescent's behavior has changed significantly or if they show any of these symptoms for more than two weeks.

The National Child Traumatic Stress Network has put together a resource to help you understand what a child or adolescent may be experiencing and how you can help. Children and adolescents can navigate the other sections of this website for support in understanding their thoughts and feelings during this time.

What can make a child or adolescent vulnerable to the effects of a crisis?

Certain factors may make some children and adolescents more likely to experience distress following a potentially traumatic event. The degree to which a young person has been exposed to the event is often linked to the severity of impact on their functioning. For example, a child who lost a grandparent during the COVID-19 pandemic may be more likely to experience greater lasting distress than a peer whose family remained healthy.

There are other factors in a young person's environment that can make them vulnerable to a potentially traumatic event. Experts suggest that children's functioning is a product of their experiences and interactions within each environment that they are directly exposed to (e.g. home and school), as well as the infrastructure of the larger contexts that they are a part of (e.g. neighborhood, city, state). Within each context, certain factors can place children at risk for future problems and others can help them be resilient and function effectively despite adversity. This framework also suggests that a child's experiences in one context can influence their behavior in another. For example, a poor relationship with a parent may have negative implications for a child's behavior in school. The loss of a parent's job might affect the child's wellbeing through the stress and financial strain experienced by their parent.

At the same time, positive influences in any area of a child's life can help build resilience. Research consistently shows that supportive parenting and positive relationships with teachers can protect children and adolescents from the risks of a potentially traumatic event.

RISK & RESILIENCE:

What do kids need?

The model below can help you understand some of the risk factors in a child's or adolescent's environment that can make it harder for them to cope as well as protective factors that can help build resilience.

So how can you help?


Bokszczanin, A. (2008). Parental support, family conflict, and overprotectiveness: Predicting PTSD symptom levels of adolescents 28 months after a natural disaster. Anxiety, Stress, and Coping. 21(4), 325-335. https://doi.org/10.1080/10615800801950584 

Bronfenbrenner, U. & Morris, P. (2006). The bioecological model of human development. In R. Lerner (Ed.), Handbook of Child Psychology: Theoretical Models of Human Development, Vol. 1. Wiley & Sons, Inc. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470147658.chpsy0114 

Cobham, V.E., McDermott, B., Haslam, D., & Sanders, M. R. (2016). The role of parents, parenting and the family environment in children's post-disaster mental health. Current Psychiatry Reports, 18, 53. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-016-0691-4 

Earls, F., Smith, E., Reich, W., & Jung, K. G. (1988). Investigating psychopathological consequences of a disaster in children: A pilot study incorporating a structured diagnostic interview. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 27(1), 90-95. https://doi.org/10.1097/00004583-198801000-00014 

McDonald, K. L., Vernberg, E. M., Lochman, J. E., Abel, M. R., Jarrett, M. A., Kassing, F., Powell, N., & Qu, L. (2019). Trajectories of tornado-related posttraumatic stress symptoms and pre-exposure predictors in a sample of at-risk youth. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 87(11), 1003-1018. https://doi.org/10.1037/ccp0000432 

Peek, L. (2008). Children and Disasters: Understanding Vulnerability, Developing Capacities, and Promoting Resilience - An Introduction. Children, Youth and Environments, 18(1), 1-29. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7721/chilyoutenvi.18.1.0001 

Pfefferbaum, B., Jacobs, A. K., Houston, J. B., & Griffin, N. (2015). Children's disaster reactions: The influence of family and social factors. Current Psychiatry Reports, 17, 57. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-015-0597-6 

Polusny, M. A., Ries, B. J., Meis, L. A., DeGarmo, D., McCormick-Deaton, C. M., Thuras, P., & Erbes, C. R. (2011). Effects of parents' experiential avoidance and PTSD on adolescent disaster-related posttraumatic stress symptomatology. Journal of Family Psychology, 25(2), 220-229. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0022945 

Wasserstein, Shari B. & La Greca, A. M. (1998). Hurricane Andrew: Parent conflict as a moderator of children's adjustment. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 20(2), 212-224. https://doi.org/10.1177/07399863980202005 

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