What helps young people overcome adversity?
Positive and enriching experiences benefit the adolescent brain
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Adverse childhood experiences like abuse, neglect, or instability at home can be stressful and even traumatic. These experiences can have numerous negative effects on a child’s life, leading to worse educational outcomes and mental health issues later in life, among other problems.
Children who have experienced several adversities typically have more emotional and behavioural struggles, too, which can in turn affect how well they perform at school.
Adverse childhood experiences also predict poorer brain health and lower levels of cognition throughout the lifespan, says Nicole Logan, Assistant Professor in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Rhode Island. At the same time, she says, participating in certain activities – such as exercise, which is a core focus of her research – can have transformative positive effects on children.
While other researchers have looked at numerous interventions, such as therapy, to help children overcome the effects of negative experiences, Logan’s team wondered how positive childhood experiences impact both academic and behavioural outcomes.
To explore that question, the team analysed data from more than 5,400 adolescents participating in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study. This is the largest long-term study of brain development and child health in the United States.
The researchers found that positive experiences, such as having close friends and supportive teachers, living in a safe neighbourhood, feeling accepted by a parent, and participating in sports or arts activities, were overwhelmingly associated with better cognition. Those who had more positive experiences scored higher on tasks involving vocabulary, reading comprehension, and episodic memory. Logan suggests that supportive relationships, safe environments, and enriching activities may be positively associated with a young person’s ability to think, learn, and process information.
“Supportive relationships, safe environments, and enriching activities may be positively associated with a young person’s ability to think, learn, and process information.”
Young people who had more positive experiences, despite experiencing adversity, were also less likely to be anxious, depressed, or aggressive, or to break the rules, a finding that builds upon similar findings in previous studies. Positive experiences, in other words, may help improve socio-emotional skills, which children who have experienced adversity often struggle to develop.
Positive experiences can buffer against the stress of childhood adversity – and if stress is reduced, children are better able to focus on academic tasks.
Intriguingly, as Logan explains, better cognitive function may also improve emotional regulation. “If you have good cognitive functioning then you might be able to develop a regulatory ability”, she says, “it’s definitely bidirectional”.
Similarly, when children feel better emotionally they may want to be more active, and if they are more active, they feel better. This in turn benefits their brain health. “So it really is a reciprocal cycle”, says Logan.
Positive experiences are so impactful because they can override the body’s response to stress. While adversity can lead to an increase of stress hormones, negatively affecting learning and emotional development, positive experiences can help children regulate their emotions and feel more connected to others.
Of course, not all families are able to create a stable environment at home or provide enriching activities, and this is where the community and policy can step in, Logan explains. “If physical activity or arts engagement happens within the school day, that makes it really equitable and accessible. It takes the burden off the family.” In England, children have physical exercise classes once or twice a week; however, it would be preferable to have them every day. At school, benefits can reach the majority of school-aged children. Subsidised after-school programmes would also be helpful.
“Positive experiences can buffer against the stress of childhood adversity.”
As the researchers point out, “even in the presence of early adversity, positive experiences during childhood can provide a foundation for creating optimal health outcomes in adulthood.”
There is a real opportunity to help children who have experienced adversity: by focusing on extra support at school with supportive teachers, making extracurricular activities more accessible and affordable, and encouraging more physical activity.
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