Children with known adversity but no overt symptoms,18 children with parents who experienced significant adversity as a child,86 and families struggling with the social determinants of health (SDoHs) (eg, poverty leading to food or housing insecurity,87,88 language barriers, or acculturation leading to conflicts within immigrant families89) may benefit from an array of interventions that mitigate specific risk factors. Psychology - 9.2: Lifespan Theories by CNX Psychology is licensed under CC BY 4.0. If nothing else, pandemic-mandated stay-at-home orders should increase our collective awareness of the distress associated with being socially isolated or vulnerable. Society is currently trending toward division, marginalization, alienation, and social isolation.177 In opposing this trend and calling for a public health approach that builds SSNRs, the AAP is working to translate the latest developmental science into practices and public policies (see Table 2) that build healthy, resilient children. Become hubs for medical neighborhoods, horizontally integrating a wide array of local efforts and early childhood initiatives that not only support families with resources and programs but also advocate for the public policies that promote safe, stable, and nurturing families and communities. The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the urgent need to provide all children with the SSNRs that buffer unexpected adversities and build the skills necessary to be resilient. Secondary preventions in the toxic stress framework are focused on identifying individuals at high risk for poor outcomes resulting from toxic stress responses by using population-based risk factors (eg, ACE scores) or emerging biomarkers (eg, methylation patterns). To promote SSNRs at the practice level, both financial incentives (eg, payment reforms) and enhanced training needs to be provided.162,163 Pediatric providers should be afforded the following: (1) sufficient time with patients and families, (2) the benefit of long-term continuity with patients and families, and (3) opportunities to learn about and practice the interpersonal and communication skills needed to form respectful, trusted, and collaborative therapeutic relationships.162 For parents to trust, pediatric providers need to listen and understand parental concerns and beliefs before making recommendations. The Ecobiodevelopmental Theory model of Shonkoff is associated directly to other theoretical models of human development. This document is copyrighted and is property of the American Academy of Pediatrics and its Board of Directors. This toxic stress framework is powerful, because it taps into a rich and increasingly sophisticated literature describing how early childhood experiences are biologically embedded and influence developmental outcomes across the life course.1214 This was the focus of the original technical report on toxic stress from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) in 2012.2 Current threats to child well-being and long-term health, such as widening economic inequities, deeply embedded structural racism, the separation of immigrant children from their parents, and a socially isolating global pandemic, make the toxic stress framework as relevant as ever. Domains, timing, and intensity of chaos were predictive of children's mental and physical health. Acronym for adverse childhood experiences. Embrace restorative justice and social inclusion (over punitive measures and exclusion). Explain how human development is rooted in biological processes that have evolved to promote adaptation and survival. ACEs are common stressful traumatic experiences which affect children's neurodevelopment. 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The ecobiodevelopmental model suggests that, to improve the likelihood of positive developmental outcomes across the life span, efforts should be made to improve the salient features of the childs environment. The capacity to develop and maintain SSNRs with others; relational health is an important predictor of wellness across the life span. This principle points to the potential benefits of addressing stressors from across the spectrum of adversity, including those that might have been considered well beyond the scope of traditional pediatric practice in the past. Acronym for Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up; ABC is an evidence-based program of interventions to assist foster parents in nurturing children who have experienced disruptions in care. University of Utah, Department of Psychology, College of Social & Behavioral Science. The first one is the Transactional of Development Model, proposed by Sameroff (Sameroff & Chandler, 1975; Sameroff & Fiese, 2000). Acronym for Reach Out and Read; ROR is a nonprofit organization and early literacy program. An important consideration across many harmed and exploited communities (such as American Indian or Alaska Native populations) is the accumulation of toxic stress responses across generations, sometimes referred to as historical trauma.60 Although higher levels of historical trauma are associated with poorer health outcomes, the science underlying these associations is only now being studied rigorously.61 A detailed discussion of historical trauma and the special needs of these communities is beyond the scope of this policy statement, but the layered, integrated public health approaches presented here to prevent childhood toxic stress and promote relational health might inform efforts to address historical trauma as well. Overview of Lecture - Part 1. HealthySteps is an evidence-based, interdisciplinary pediatric primary care program that promotes positive parenting and healthy development for infants and toddlers, with an emphasis on families living in low-income communities. Toxic stress refers to the biological processes that occur after the extreme or prolonged activation of the bodys stress response systems in the absence of SSNRs. For children deemed to be at high risk for toxic stress responses, potential barriers to relational health need to be identified and addressed through team-based care144 and collaborative community partnerships (eg, food banks,145,146 medical-legal partnerships147). This revised policy statement on childhood toxic stress builds on the 2012 policy statement12 and technical report2 by: Acknowledging that a spectrum of adversity exists, from discrete, threatening events (such as abuse, bullying, or disasters) to ongoing, chronic hardships (such as poverty, racism, social isolation, or neglect). Realizing the full impact of these principles within primary care practice, however, will also require fundamental changes in medical education and payment models. This guide asserts Life Course Theory asserts that non-communicable diseases . Scientists now theorize that toxic stress causes epigenetic changes that allow trauma to be transmitted over the generations. Advances in fields of inquiry as diverse as neuroscience, molecular biology, genomics, developmental psychology, epidemiology, sociology, and economics are catalyzing an important paradigm shift in our understanding of health and disease across the lifespan. Reaffirming an ecobiodevelopmental framework2 because early childhood experiences, both adverse and nurturing, are biologically embedded and influence the development of both disease and wellness later in life. 605 PDF 3, Early childhood social disadvantage is associated with poor health behaviours in adulthood, Beyond residential mobility: A broader conceptualization of instability and its impact on victimization risk among children, Adversity and children experiencing family homelessness: implications for health, The association between familial homelessness, aggression, and victimization among children, Links between childhood exposure to violent contexts and risky adolescent health behaviors, Community violence exposure in early adolescence: longitudinal associations with hippocampal and amygdala volume and resting state connectivity, Associations of neighborhood disorganization and maternal spanking with childrens aggression: a fixed-effects regression analysis, Community-level adverse experiences and emotional regulation in children and adolescents, Factors that influence trajectories of delinquency throughout adolescence, Household and community-level adverse childhood experiences and adult health outcomes in a diverse urban population, Bullying victimization in childhood predicts inflammation and obesity at mid-life: a five-decade birth cohort study. Build the therapeutic alliance; promote positive parenting; encourage developmentally appropriate play. Dr Garner collaborated in conceptualizing and drafting this document, took the lead in reconciling the numerous edits, comments, and suggestions made by many expert reviewers, and made significant contributions to the manuscript; Dr Yogman collaborated in conceptualizing and drafting this document and made significant contributions to the manuscript; and all authors approved the final manuscript as submitted. Acute threats to childhood wellness such as abuse need to be taken seriously; similar attention should be given to the social inequities and ongoing, chronic life conditions that similarly imperil a childs biological wellness and life-course trajectory. Driving this transformation are advances in developmental sciences as they inform a deeper understanding of how early life experiences, both nurturing and adverse, are biologically embedded and influence outcomes in health, education, and economic stability across the life span. A Biblioteca Virtual em Sade uma colecao de fontes de informacao cientfica e tcnica em sade organizada e armazenada em formato eletrnico nos pases da Regio Latino-Americana e do Caribe, acessveis de forma universal na Internet de modo compatvel com as bases internacionais. This wide spectrum of adversity underscores the fact that ACE scores and other epidemiologically derived risk factors at the population level are not valid or reliable predictors of outcomes at the individual level.56 Toxic stress, by contrast, refers to an individuals physiologic response to these adversities, and biomarkers of this physiologic response have the potential to be more sensitive and specific measures of experienced adversity at the individual level.37 Validated biomarkers also offer transformational potential as measures of responsiveness to specific interventions.37,57 With these applications in mind, the pediatric research community is hoping to develop clinic-friendly, noninvasive biomarkers for different forms and degrees of adversity. Secondary preventions in the relational health framework are focused on identifying the potential individual, family, and community barriers to SSNRs by developing respectful and caring therapeutic relationships with patients, families, and communities. This public health approach to relational health needs to be integrated both vertically (by including primary, secondary, and tertiary preventions) and horizontally (by including public service sectors beyond health care). An integrated, biodevelopmental framework is offered to promote greater understanding of the antecedents and causal pathways that lead to disparities in health, learning, and behavior in order to inform the development of enhanced theories of change to drive innovation in policies and programs. Relational health defines the solution. 3. In the immediate vicinity of the child, there are many levels, or systems that can affect and influence the development of children. Although children experiencing discrete catastrophic events such as abuse are at a high risk for toxic stress responses, epidemiology suggests that the largest number of children at risk for toxic stress responses are those affected by ongoing chronic life conditions such as neglect.54,55 This finding suggests that although interventions targeting children with acute threats are needed urgently (eg, efforts preventing physical abuse, child trafficking, and gun violence), those interventions alone will almost certainly miss large segments of the population (eg, those experiencing the threats of parental mental illness, racism, poverty, social isolation) who may also develop toxic stress responses and their associated poor outcomes. For younger children, these therapies may include attachment and biobehavioral catch-up (ABC),9698 parent-child interaction therapy (PCIT),99102 and child-parent psychotherapy (CPP).103105 For older children, trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy (TF-CBT) may be beneficial.106,107 The effectiveness of these evidence-based therapies may be reduced if targeted interventions are not used to address emerging areas of risk or if universal primary preventions are not applied as well.59,108 A layered public health approach mirrors the concept of proportionate universalism (see the Appendix for a glossary of terms, concepts, and abbreviations), in which the delivery of universal services is at a scale and intensity that is proportionate to the degree of need.109112 For example, if access to healthy foods is a universal objective, a proportionate response would recognize that some families may only need education about which foods are healthy, whereas some may need education about healthy foods and additional financial resources to purchase those healthy foods, and still others may require education about healthy foods, additional financial resources, and access and/or transportation to stores that sell healthy foods. This revised policy statement on childhood toxic stress acknowledges a spectrum of potential adversities and reaffirms the benefits of an ecobiodevelopmental model for understanding the childhood origins of adult-manifested disease and wellness. FCPMHs could work to reduce these barriers by partnering with their AAP chapter, local organizations (such as schools, businesses, and faith-based organizations), and other community assets (including parents, extended family, child care providers, community health workers, and patients) to form medical neighborhoods149,159,161 that work collaboratively to address the SDoHs while also advocating for policies that support safe, stable, and nurturing families and communities. Foremost on the advocacy agenda will be the need for serious payment reforms that consider the complexity of care attributable to adverse family and community contexts and include financial supports that incentivize families to engage with an FCPMH.204 Payment reforms need to be sufficient to allow FCPMHs to spend more time with families, function as interdisciplinary teams, integrate into their communitys initiatives and services to support children and families (horizontal integration), and anchor medical neighborhoods that not only foster wellness in childhood but promote positive outcomes across the life span. Educate residents about the many different facets of a fractured early childhood system of care (eg, Medicaid, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Parts C and B, Child Care and Development Block Grants, Head Start, etc), as there is little collaboration or communication between the systems, funders, and programs that address child health, out-of-home child care, education, special education, protective services, or public health. HealthySteps uses a tiered approach to match services with the level of need, and the core components include: (1) child development social-emotional, and behavioral screening, (2) screening for family needs, (3) child development support line (eg, phone, text, e-mail, and online portal), (4) child development and behavioral consultants, (5) care coordination and systems navigation, (6) positive parenting guidance and information, (7) early learning resources, and (8) ongoing, preventive team-based well-child visits. Any conflicts have been resolved through a process approved by the Board of Directors. Help Me Grow National Center. ACE = Events/Incidents which harm social, cognitive, and emotional functioning causing a dramatic upset in the safe, nurturing environments children require to thrive. Recent research suggests that this dyadic need to connect promotes the development of biobehavioral synchrony between parents and infants.119,120 Feldman119 states, Such coordination is observed across four systems: the matching of nonverbal behavior; the coupling of heart rhythms and autonomic function; the coordination of hormone release [eg, oxytocin following contact with both mothers and fathers]; and brain to brain synchrony [eg, coordinated brain oscillation in alpha and gamma rhythms]. Because the human brain is so immature at birth, the infant is dependent on this biobehavioral synchrony not only for survival but also for laying the foundation for future self-regulation and social-emotional skills. Taken together, these diverse lines of inquiry suggest that it may not actually be the wide spectrum of childhood adversity that drives poor outcomes but the degree to which that adversity drives shame, guilt, anger, alienation, disenfranchisement, and degree of social isolation.181,182 If so, the proposed public health approach toward the promotion of SSNRs is needed, not only to buffer adversity and promote resilience but also to begin bridging political, religious, economic, geographic, identity-based, and ideological divides that increase social isolation, encourage tribalism, diminish empathy, and, ultimately, drive poor outcomes in the medical, educational, social service, and justice systems. That said, the toxic stress framework is a problem-focused model because it is focused on what happens biologically in the absence of mitigating social and emotional buffers. Conversely, early supports that allow new mothers more opportunities to bond with, breastfeed, and simply stroke their children are associated with decreases in the methylation of the glucocorticoid receptor gene, perhaps allowing infants to downregulate their stress responses more effectively.78,79 This finding is one of the most significant predictions of the ecobiodevelopmental model: the biological mechanisms that underlie the embedding of significant childhood adversity may also underlie the embedding of positive relational experiences in childhood. Child-parent psychotherapy: 6-month follow-up of a randomized controlled trial, A multisite, randomized controlled trial for children with sexual abuse-related PTSD symptoms, Amygdala response predicts trajectory of symptom reduction during trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy among adolescent girls with PTSD, Prevalence of adverse childhood experiences from the 2011-2014 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System in 23 States, Enhancing social-emotional health and wellbeing in the early years (E-SEE): a study protocol of a community-based randomised controlled trial with process and economic evaluations of the incredible years infant and toddler parenting programmes, delivered in a proportionate universal model, Proportionate universalism in practice? Perhaps the most important critique of Kohlberg's theory is that it may describe the moral development of males better than it describes that of females (Jaffee & Hyde, 2000). Stability of tenure: This principle says employees must have job security to be efficient. Finally, it should be noted that public health mandates to maintain social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic actually refer to physical distancing and are not intended to further isolate, alienate, or disenfranchise already vulnerable populations. Vulnerability theory recognizes that the human experience of constant vulnerability varies as a result of stages in the life-course, social institutions, and law, which often trace intersecting forms of oppression on the basis of race, gender, sexuality, disability, and class. Understand the relational health framework, which explains how the individual, family, and community capacities that support the development and maintenance of SSNRs also buffer adversity and build resilience across the life course (see Table 1). To translate this relational health framework into clinical practice, generative research, and public policy, the entire pediatric community needs to adopt a public health approach that builds relational health by partnering with families and communities. In this way, the victims play an active role in communicating with and understanding the offenders, and the offenders have the chance to take responsibility for their actions, identify steps that might prevent offending behaviors in the future, and redeem themselves in the eyes of the victims and community (as per Garner and Saul17).