Cascading Resilience: Leverage Points in Promoting Parent and Child Well‐Being

Abstract

While negative cascades have been well studied, little has been written on the promotion of upward spirals. We propose a conceptual model that situates parenting interventions as a leverage point in promoting positive cascades. We integrate broaden‐and‐build theory and social capital theory into the model to explain micro‐ and macro‐level patterns of change in longitudinal prevention studies, acknowledging that when socioeconomic resources are scarce, investment in parenting may be challenging. Parenting prevention programs provide evidence of improvements in effective parenting behaviors, promote increased confidence and a belief in parenting abilities, and over time may activate positive cascades that affect other domains in parents' lives, such as health and peer support. Resulting positive emotions are hypothesized to broaden coping and build long‐term resources that promote resilience. Social resources may then spill over to benefit individual, family, and community systems. Research methods for testing developmental cascades and practical applications are also considered.

Resilience Theory and Research on Children and Families: Past, Present, and Promise

“…Parent–child interactions have played such a central role in resilience probably because parenting serves so many functions in child development, cultural transmission, and the well‐being of societies (Becvar, ; Bornstein, ; Masten & Shaffer, ; Masten & Palmer, in press). Doty, Davis, and Arditti () have described a model of cascading resilience that focuses on parenting as a lever for change. It is not surprising that many of the interventions intended to promote resilience in children, families, and communities have focused attention on the multiple roles of parenting.…”

“…The wave of interest in integrating knowledge on resilience across system levels includes growing efforts to delineate processes by which communities and cultures support and benefit from resilience in children and families (Cabrera & Leyendecker, ; Doty et al, ; Khanlou & Wray, ; Masten & Cicchetti, ; Masten & Palmer, in press; Panter‐Brick & Leckman, ; Theron, Liebenberg, & Ungar, ; Ungar et al, ). Although progress has been made on these processes spanning levels beyond the family, much work remains ahead to build a sturdy base of evidence on these potential processes and how they might be leveraged to support the development of individuals, families, and societies.…”

“…Global concerns about climate change, natural and technological disasters, economic instability, war, and terrorism have spurred intensified attention to resilience, because hopes for addressing these challenges rest in the capacity of many systems to adapt, often in concert with one another (Masten, ). Concomitantly, although theory and research on resilience in families and in individual human development emerged decades ago, there is a new urgency to calls for integrating science and practice across these levels (Doty, Davis, & Arditti, ; Henry et al, ; Masten, ; Masten & Monn, ; Masten & Palmer, in press). …”

Clinical Guidelines for Working With Stepfamilies: What Family, Couple, Individual, and Child Therapists Need to Know

“…Considerable research shows that marriage and parenting education programs can provide an effective, low-cost avenue to family wellbeing, even, sometimes especially, for distressed populations (Amato, 2014;Doty, Davis, & Arditi, 2017;Markman & Rhoades, 2012;McGill et al, 2016;Quirk, Strokhoff, Owen, France, & Bergen, 2014). However, general relationship education programs do not adequately address stepfamily challenges (Adler-Baeder & Higginbotham, 2004), (Adler-Baeder, Robertson, & Schramm, 2010).…”

A Four‐Factor Outcome Model for Family Case Management Services With Children and Families Who Have Experienced Complex Trauma

“…As Ungar () has stated, “Remarkably little work, however, has been done that links resilience to service design” (p. 111). There is, however, some emerging evidence that family‐based social services and parenting education programs can interrupt negative developmental trajectories and initiate positive cascades characterized by ongoing capacities for coping with adversities, or resilience over time, and result in positive long‐term effects on parent and child functioning (Doty, Davis, & Arditti, ; Masten & Cicchetti, ).…”