Global Research on Surviving Child Adversity

On the "Global Children's Initiative" website this week I read about research that is being done to understand the long-term impact of children around the world surviving adversity in childhood. The first study I read about is currently being done to learn more about children that became child soldiers in Sierra Leone during the civil war and to understand more about how that is affecting their current relationships and family situations. By learning about the impact of major adversities, researchers hope to create ways of helping and developing effective intervention strategies. "In Sierra Leone, for example, 'We’ll be able to understand the longer-term adult functioning of people who’ve been through a range of toxic stress exposures—and the impact on their intimate partners—and understand the dynamics of parenting and child-rearing where interventions might be helpful"(Lawton, 2014).

The second study that I read about is being done in Rwanda to research the affect on children in families where the parents have HIV. According to the research, many parents view the disease as a "death sentence" affecting the way they interact with their children. In turn, "their children can harbor lingering fears and misunderstandings about HIV infection—in some cases, afraid to touch their parents or eat from the same cooking pot" (Lawton, 2014). By learning about these family situations, researchers hope to help parents meet the needs of their children (Lawton, 2014).

“There are very few prevention-oriented interventions in global mental health for children,” Betancourt notes. “And doing that work earlier in a preventive model is going to be so much more cost-effective than waiting for [children] to get severely depressed and suicidal, or drop out of school. Then, you’re trying to undo those very severe sorts of consequences” (Lawton, 2014).


This article opened my eyes to some of the severe adversities and stress that children and families around the world are facing. Much of the research I read about is focused on children and families in the United States, but I think this research being done globally is very important to fully understanding child development and learning about ways to help children fro around the world.


Reference:
Lawton, M. (2014). Studying the Effects of Global Adversity, Two Generations at a Time. Retrieved from http://developingchild.harvard.edu/index.php/faculty_and_staff/faculty/faculty_spotlights/theresa_betancourt/