1 University of Utah.
2 University of Arizona.
Perspect Psychol Sci. 2017 Jul;12(4):561-587. doi: 10.1177/1745691617693054. Epub 2017 Jul 6.
How does repeated or chronic childhood adversity shape social and cognitive abilities? According to the prevailing deficit model, children from high-stress backgrounds are at risk for impairments in learning and behavior, and the intervention goal is to prevent, reduce, or repair the damage. Missing from this deficit approach is an attempt to leverage the unique strengths and abilities that develop in response to high-stress environments. Evolutionary-developmental models emphasize the coherent, functional changes that occur in response to stress over the life course. Research in birds, rodents, and humans suggests that developmental exposures to stress can improve forms of attention, perception, learning, memory, and problem solving that are ecologically relevant in harsh-unpredictable environments (as per the specialization hypothesis). Many of these skills and abilities, moreover, are primarily manifest in currently stressful contexts where they would provide the greatest fitness-relevant advantages (as per the sensitization hypothesis). This perspective supports an alternative adaptation-based approach to resilience that converges on a central question: "What are the attention, learning, memory, problem-solving, and decision-making strategies that are enhanced through exposures to childhood adversity?" At an applied level, this approach focuses on how we can work with, rather than against, these strengths to promote success in education, employment, and civic life.
反复或慢性的儿童逆境是如何塑造社交和认知能力的？根据流行的缺陷模型，来自高压力背景的儿童有学习和行为障碍的风险，干预目标是预防、减少或修复这种损害。这种缺陷方法没有试图利用在高压力环境下发展起来的独特优势和能力。进化发展模型强调了在整个生命周期中对压力的一致的、功能性的变化。鸟类、啮齿动物和人类的研究表明，发育过程中暴露于压力下可以改善注意力、感知、学习、记忆和解决问题的能力，这些能力在恶劣的不可预测环境中具有生态相关性（如专业化假说）。此外，这些技能和能力中的许多主要表现在当前的压力环境中，在这些环境中，它们将提供最大的与适应度相关的优势（如敏感化假说）。这种观点支持了一种基于适应的韧性替代方法，该方法集中于一个核心问题：“通过儿童逆境的暴露，哪些注意力、学习、记忆、解决问题和决策策略得到了增强？”在应用层面上，这种方法侧重于我们如何利用这些优势，而不是与之对抗，以促进在教育、就业和公民生活中的成功。
