Resilience

Question 1

What is a health trajectory?

Answer 1

The changing course of health and illness (across the lifespan)

Question 2

What 4 factors are involved in ‘setting the stress response’?

Answer 2

1. Early life adversity
2. Person-environment transcastions in childhood
3. Conditioning of the endocrine and immune system
4. Development of coping responses and resilience

Question 3

What are postnatal stress effects on the HPA axis and the outcome?

Answer 3

1. There are differentiation effects concerned with the hippocampus
2. Increase in glucocorticoids (maternal seperation)
   Decrease in glucocorticoids (severe trauma)

Question 4

What are adolescence stress effects on the HPA axis and the outcome?

Answer 4

1. Potentiation effects concerned with the prefrontal cortex

2. There is either an increase or decrease in glucorticoids

Question 5

What is resiliency?

Answer 5

A personality trait or personal characteristic

Question 6

What is resilience?

Answer 6

A “dynamic process” involving “personal, interpersonal, and contextual protective mechanisms”

Question 7

What did resiliency and the concept of resilience aim to address?

Answer 7

Why psychopathology is not always the outcome in children exposed to early adversity

Question 8

What is a resliency assett?

Answer 8

Personal qualities, such as self-esteem

Question 9

What is a resiliency resource?

Answer 9

A quality of the external environment, such as parental support

Question 10

Give the broad definition of resilience

Answer 10

The ability of an organism to cope with environmental tumult by bending, and not breaking
McEwen (2013)

Question 11

What is biological embedding?

Answer 11

Experience alters human biology and development; influence vulnerability or resistance to ill health/disease

Question 12

What are the models of developmental plasticity?

Answer 12

1. Dual risk model (diathesis-stress model)
2. Differential susceptibility hypothesis and the Orchid gene theory
3. Vantage sensitivity

Question 13

Explain the dual risk model (‘diathesis-stress model’)

Answer 13

Belsky (2011)

Looking at how disorders result from the interaction of biological or genetic traits (diathesis) and environmental influences (stressors)

Disorders develop from the combination of the predisposition and stressors exceeding a threshold

Question 14

Explain the differntial susceptibility hypothesis

Answer 14

Belsky (2010)
Similar to the diathesis-stress model: both models say that peoples developments are differentially susceptible to the environment

However, the differential susceptiblity hypothesis proposes that people are senesitive to positive experiences as well as negative

Question 15

Explain the orchid gene theory

Answer 15

Boyce and Ellis (2005)

Hand in hand with the differential susceptibility hypothesis

Empthasis on developmental plasticity: both negative and positive

Less susceptible individuals = less effected by environment, be it positive or negative

More susceptible individuals = heightened stress reactivity

Dandelion child = survive and even thrive in whatever circumstances

Orchid child = survival/ability to thrive dependent on environment

Tulip child (medium-sensitive) = continuum of environemtnal sensitivity, three groups of sensitivity: low, medium, high (Lionetti, 2018)

Question 16

Explain the vantage sensitvity model

and Study

Answer 16

Pleuss and Belsky (2013)

Derived from the theory of differential susceptibility hypothesis

Theoretical framework: genetic factors responsible for the variablity in response to positive experiences

Children carrying specific genes benefit from positive feedback when undergoing a computer game to aid early literacy

No benefit of the game when feedback was absent

Level of functioning increased in an individual representing vantage sensitivty

Remained unchanged for another representing vantage resistance

Question 17

Resilience in physical health:
Explain shift-and-persist strategy

(and Study)

Answer 17

A coping strategy: a protective factor that promotes adaptability and reduces allostatic load

Concept of control
Primary control: change circumstances/environment
Secondary control: change self to fit wihtin circumstances

Study: Chen (2012)
MIDUS II
SES during childhood and questionnaire of shift-and-persist coping strategies
Allostatic load score (e.g. assessed HPA axis, inflammation)
Low SES = shift-and-persist adaptive as only secondary control available
High SES = shift-and-persist not adaptive as have primary control

Question 18

What is the link between early life adversity and adult biological risk profiles?

Answer 18

Friedman (2015)

MIDUS II
For each childhood adverse experience, allostatic load in midlife increased by 0.093
A person with 3 adverse childhood experiences show a biological risk profile of a person 9 years older

Question 19

What can mediate the effects of early life adversity on health outcome?

Answer 19

Effects of early socioeconomic adversity can be improved by education

Effects of childhood physical abuse can not be improved by education

Adult social relationships partially mediate the link between childhood abuse and allostatic load