Prioritizing Possibilities for Child and Family Health: An Agenda to Address Adverse Childhood Experiences and Foster the Social and Emotional Roots of Well-being in Pediatrics

Abstract

Efforts to address the high prevalence and negative effects of ACEs on child health are needed, including widespread and concrete understanding and strategies to promote awareness, resilience, and safe, stable, nurturing relationships as foundational to healthy child development and sustainable well-being throughout life. A paradigm-shifting evolution in individual, organizational, and collective mindsets, policies, and practices is required. Shifts will emphasize the centrality of relationships and regulation of emotion and stress to brain development as well as overall health. They will elevate relationship-centered methods to engage individuals, families, and communities in self-care related to ACEs, stress, trauma, and building the resilience and nurturing relationships science has revealed to be at the root of well-being. Findings reflect a palpable hope for prevention, mitigation, and healing of individual, intergenerational, and community trauma associated with ACEs and provide a road map for doing so.

Emotional wellbeing in youth: A concept analysis

“…Emotional wellbeing in youth can operationally be defined as an overall positive state of emotions, self‐esteem, and resilience that leads to self‐actualization, self‐efficacy, and health‐promoting behaviors. This definition captures the core essence of the concept as described throughout history …”

“…A third attribute with a high degree of consensus in the literature is resilience . Youth who exhibit resilience generally meet challenges, recover and exhibit positive emotions within a relatively quicker timeframe than their counterparts who struggle with resiliency.…”

“…Resilience research demonstrates that children's brains have neuroplastic properties that allow recovery when certain antecedents are present. Resiliency is the attribute of emotional wellbeing that many youths have been shown to exhibit in spite of their suffering traumatic ACEs …”

“…As such, his research described eudaimonia and psychological wellbeing as a concept of utmost importance to human flourishing, but as one that still remained undefined in the scientific literature as to its attributes . In fact, the modern‐day study of emotional wellbeing in youth has been termed by pediatric experts in a modified Delphi study as the emerging “science of thriving,” and urge a required paradigm shift for science to build a caring capacity in pediatric medicine and focus on wellbeing, (p. S39). The Academic Pediatric Association, largely comprised of pediatricians, set this agenda .…”

“…In fact, the modern‐day study of emotional wellbeing in youth has been termed by pediatric experts in a modified Delphi study as the emerging “science of thriving,” and urge a required paradigm shift for science to build a caring capacity in pediatric medicine and focus on wellbeing, (p. S39). The Academic Pediatric Association, largely comprised of pediatricians, set this agenda . The aim of this study is to report a synthesis of the extant literature and establish a standardized conceptualization and operational definition for emotional wellbeing in youth ages 3 to 24 years to better inform strategies that can improve emotional wellbeing in this population.…”