Children, Families and Stress

This study provides a review of what is known about stressors in children's lives, and the ways in which their effects vary depending upon the children's own appraisal of their situation, their resilience, and the coping mechanisms within their family. It should be of interest to students and researchers in child development, as well as clinical child psychologists and social workers who have to care for children. Children and families encounter various stressful experiences that influence the course of their development, and this book addresses these experiences from a contextual perspective, emphasizing the role of the family as a mediator of stressful experience during developmental periods. Substantial attention is given to children's functioning across developmental domains. Stress is approached from various theoretical perspectives, incorporating models of major life events, as well as minor daily hassles which characterize a broad range of family stress experience, including specific attention to parenting. The book also suggests that understanding stress within families requires attention to notions of resilience and protective factors that exist within family systems.