The Interactive Effects of Stress Reactivity and Family Adversity on Socioemotional Behavior and School Readiness
The scientific study examines how stress reactivity and family adversity influence the socioemotional behavior and school readiness skills of children attending kindergarten. It finds that highly reactive children, or those who react instantaneously to trauma, thrive when raised in supportive, nurturing and encouraging environments.
The research team examined 338 kindergarteners. The highly reactive, or emotionally sensitive, children exhibited a higher tendency of developmental problems when raised in an unpleasant family environment, but were more likely to flourish when raised in caring surroundings.
The study, which was partly funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, was conducted by scientists at the University of British Columbia and the University of California in San Francisco and Berkeley. It was published in the journal of Child Development, produced on behalf of the Society for Research in Child Development.
