This FIRST Award application proposes a five year study of stress, the appraisal of stress, coping, and adjustment among a sample of children and adolescents from low income (AFDC-eligible) families living in Worcester, Massachusetts. In one study component, the occurrence and nature of acute and chronic stressors experienced by these youths will be assessed. In addition, the primary and secondary appraisal processes that children undergo in recognizing and responding to psychological stress will be examined.
Key aims to this study component include: (1) understanding factors that lead to an appraisal of events or stimuli that are deemed by youths as harmful, threatening, or challenging; (2) exploring the process by which children and adolescents evaluate coping options and choose a response(s); (3) describing the coping strategies and styles that are used (would be used) in responding to real and hypothetical stressors; and (4) examining developmental change in the reported use of coping strategies between two time points. In another study component, the relation between stress and adjustment will be examined with a central focus on the extent to which various coping strategies and coping styles serve a protective function and/or moderate the stress-adjustment relationship among this high risk sample. Additionally, the coping strategies/styles used by children and adolescents who appear resilient to the stressors of life in poverty will be described, specific hypotheses tested, and predictors of resiliency examined. Using data collected from respondents, a conceptual model relating coping resources and coping processes to resiliency and adjustment will also be evaluated. Results from this overall investigation could lead to a better understanding of the nature and types of stress experienced by this sample, the stress appraisal process, and coping strategies used by these at-risk youth. Data will be generated from a sample of youths living below the poverty line with results that would hold especially good potential for generalizability and applicability for the design of preventive interventions that promote competence and prevent emotional and behavioral problems, especially among children and adolescents living in poverty. Such programs, coupled with effective social policy which addresses systemic issues contributing to poverty and other social problems, could benefit the large number of children and adolescents now living in economically dire circumstances in the United States.
| Buckner, John C; Mezzacappa, Enrico; Beardslee, William R (2009) Self-regulation and its relations to adaptive functioning in low income youths. Am J Orthopsychiatry 79:19-30 |
| Buckner, John C; Beardslee, William R; Bassuk, Ellen L (2004) Exposure to violence and low-income children's mental health: direct, moderated, and mediated relations. Am J Orthopsychiatry 74:413-23 |
| Buckner, John C; Mezzacappa, Enrico; Beardslee, William R (2003) Characteristics of resilient youths living in poverty: the role of self-regulatory processes. Dev Psychopathol 15:139-62 |
| Buckner, J C; Bassuk, E L; Weinreb, L F et al. (1999) Homelessness and its relation to the mental health and behavior of low-income school-age children. Dev Psychol 35:246-57 |
