Early Indications of Resilience and Their Relation to Experiences in the Home Environments of Low Birthweight, Premature Children Living in Poverty

Abstract

The caregiving environment experienced by 243 premature, low birthweight (LBW) children living in poverty was examined to determine whether the quality of care such children receive affords them some measure of protection from the generally deleterious consequences of poverty and prematurity. Only 26 children were identified as functioning in the normal range for cognitive, social/adaptive, health, and growth parameters at age 3. These children, who showed early signs of resiliency, differed from nonresilient children in that they were receiving more responsive, accepting, stimulating, and organized care. They were also living in safer, less crowded homes. 6 "protective" aspects of caregiving were identified and used as part of a cumulative protection index. Children with less than 3 protective aspects of caregiving present at age 1 had only a 2% probability of being resilient, and only a 6% probability if fewer than 3 were present at age 3. Overall, premature LBW children born into conditions of poverty have a very poor prognosis of functioning within normal ranges across all the dimensions of health and development assessed. However, those raised in a setting with 3 or more protective factors were more likely to show early signs of resiliency.

Is Biology Destiny? Birth Weight and Life Chances

“…2 (For a fuller discussion of the 1 Low-birth-weight infants are also said to suffer developmentally, although much of this research is plagued by the problem of unobserved variable bias (for a review, see Aber et al 1996;McGaughey et al 1991;Rich-Edwards et al 1997;Sorensen et al 1997). Further complicating the issue is the fact that poverty and other socioeconomic circumstances may play a role in determining the consequences of low birth weight (Bradley et al 1994). …”

Mother-Child Attachment and Preschool Behavior Problems in Children with Developmental Delays

“…As was reported in the 1980's (Blacher & Meyers, 1983), more recent studies have also shown a higher likelihood of insecure attachments for children with disabilities (Bradley, Whiteside, Mundfrom, 1994;Hanson & Spratt, 2000). Janssen, Schuengal, and Stolk (2002) reported an increased incidence of insecure attachment for individuals with intellectual disabilities.…”

Home Environment and Emergent Literacy among Young Children in Iran

“…Some researchers studied the relationship between children's home environment and their positive cognitive development (Bradley et al, 1994;Bradley et al, 2001;Linver et al, 2002;Molfese et al, 2003, Leventhal, Martin, & Brooks-Gunn, 2004. Families whose homes were scored high on the HOME (Caldwell and Bradley, 1984); a measure of the quality and quantity of stimulation and support available within the home setting, had scored higher than families with low scores on the HOME on measures of language skills, cognitive ability, and academic skills through preschool (Bradely et al, 2001).…”