New research coming out of Ohio State University suggests our kids are treading water when it comes to the ups and downs of childhood experiences—a mix of adverse and positive events is basically unchanged in recent years. According to a study published in JAMA Pediatrics, despite efforts to boost the good and fend off the bad, we're not seeing a major shift in the landscape for teens across the nation.
Looking at data from 125,564 adolescents aged 12 to 17 from the National Survey of Children's Health, the researchers pinpointed 11 negative experiences—like divorce, violence, or discrimination—matched against 7 positive ones—think adult mentorship and community support. Senior author Susie Breitenstein, whose work zeroes in on parent training to bolster family well-being, had something to say about the findings, "I do early intervention parenting work, and the goal really is to decrease the incidence of adverse childhood experiences and increase the incidence of positive childhood experiences," she stated through Ohio State News, acknowledging that while there's been success at local levels, the national picture is a different less rosy story.
It's not news that early hardships can spell trouble down the line, with potential fallout spanning disease or addiction, and the flip side, those positive experiences, might be the buffer kids need to avoid psychological and relationship pitfalls. Most of the past research has singled out certain kids who might be more at risk or tallied the average number of life events a youngster might experience. However, not much moved over the span of eight years, even with the global shake-up of the COVID-19 lockdown, researchers found no major variations in the prevalence of these experiences.
Breitenstein summed it up—"I think at a local level we have had some success, but at a national level it doesn’t seem like we’ve really moved the needle a lot on some of these experiences," according to Ohio State News, as the data doesn't lie, her use of a strength-based approach in parenting at her lab has yet to ripple effectively through the broader American tapestry. For more details, have a look at the full study details linked above and mull over what this means for future interventions aimed at building resilience in the next generation.
