LCRG Research Brief | Girls and Resilience

CENTER FOR RESEARCH ON GIRLS

LCRG on Resilience A SERIES OF RESEARCH AND INFORMATIONAL PUBLICATIONS BY LCRG

“Putting the world’s best research to work for girls.”

by Tori Cordiano, Ph.D., Rachel Herlein, Ed.D., Leslie Segal, M.A., Megan Weiskopf, M.A., Grace Willer, Ph.D.

GIRLS AND RESILIENCE According to the American Psychological Association, “Resilience is the process and outcome of successfully adapting to difficult or challenging life experiences, especially through mental, emotional, and behavioral flexibility and adjustment to external and internal demands.”1 Building children’s resilience is top of mind for parents and educators. In response to research indicating that one’s capacity for resilience can be increased, Laurel’s Center for Research on Girls (LCRG) has identified growth mindset, self-care, purpose, creativity, and relationships as important components in building resilience. Recent research also provides a compelling argument for the role of independence as an important aspect of resilience.2 Encouragingly, resilience is a complex, multifaceted construct, and no one variable completely determines a child’s ability to navigate life’s challenges.3 With this knowledge, adults can explore one or more of the many research-backed paths toward building children’s resilience in the new year. Below, we have outlined LCRG’s framework for resilience.

RESILIENCE AT A GLANCE CREATIVITY

Creativity involves divergent thinking, or thinking of multiple solutions, which can help when girls feel emotionally or psychologically “stuck.”4 LCRG-sponsored research on play and creativity shows that girls who are creative are able to solve a wide range of problems and that all girls can be taught to be creative.

GROWTH MINDSET

Dr. Carol Dweck’s paradigm-shifting research identified two kinds of mindsets: fixed mindset and growth mindset.5 Girls with a fixed mindset believe that their abilities are static and cannot be changed with effort; girls with a growth mindset believe that their abilities can be expanded through effort, practice, and learning from mistakes.

PURPOSE

Establishing a strong sense of purpose includes recognizing that one has something to offer, that they can act with agency, and that they can make a difference in the world. It is knowing at one’s core that they have value and can offer it to others.6

RELATIONSHIPS

Original research sponsored by LCRG shows that girls who enjoy authentic, engaged, empowering relationships with peers and adult mentors have lower levels of stress and higher levels of achievement.7 Strong relationships provide girls with a safety net, helping them bounce back from adversity.

SELF-CARE

Self-care involves taking an inventory of what you need to show up as your best self. It includes getting enough sleep8, managing stress9, eating enough to fuel your body, and avoiding overscheduling.10

Drawing upon well-established research from the field of child development, LCRG’s model of resilience centers upon variables that uniquely contribute to children’s overall well-being.11 Helpfully, each of these is also connected to practical strategies that can be incorporated into daily life. For example, sleep plays an important role in children’s well-being

under the umbrella of self-care.12 Adults can help children identify and implement small changes to enhance sleep quality and duration. Cultivating a sense of purpose is particularly important for adolescents.13 Girls benefit when the adults around them, both at school and at home, work actively to promote development of each of the five pillars.

BOOSTING RESILIENCE AT HOME AND AT SCHOOL To boost resilience, try some of the strategies at school and home listed under each pillar below:

CREATIVITY

GROWTH MINDSET

PURPOSE

RELATIONSHIPS

SELF-CARE

Provide easy access to tinkering materials and open-ended play objects.

Praise effort, determination, and improvement rather than “innate skill.”

Give jobs around the home or the classroom, pointing out the positive impact of people working together to achieve a goal.

Prioritize open dialogue over one-way communication.

Create a “sleep sanctuary” buffered by caffeine and technology cut-offs well before bedtime.

Protect time after school for play and leisure activities, separate from structured extracurriculars.

Affirm and normalize challenge, even failure, and support adventurous (risky but not dangerous) play.

Model community engagement and discuss the benefits to self and others of making a difference in the world.

Be a meaningful presence at activities and performances.

Seek access to nature and activity - outdoor play, hiking, parks.

Provide access to creative pursuits that are free from judgment or criticism, including viewing and participating in the arts.

Highlight mistakes as opportunities for learning and reflection rather than failure.

Discuss the distinction between striving and thriving, underscoring the importance of quality rather than quantity.

Encourage girls to actively seek out trusted adults who are fair, predictable, and safe: coaches, teachers, neighbors, tutors.

Practice mindfulness techniques with her regularly: breathing routines, meditation, guided relaxation.

Use open-ended prompts and questions to encourage conversation that imagines, speculates, or envisions.

Dispel the myth of “effortless perfection” by openly discussing struggle stories and the challenges on the journey to success.

Provide opportunities for discussing current events using the tenets of civil discourse.

Identify and establish supportive and balanced peer boundaries without feeling responsible for others’ emotions.

Have healthy conversations about understanding food as necessary fuel rather than connecting food to body size or type.

When time allows, invite her to help with even an ordinary task, asking how she wants to do it instead of doing it yourself or showing her how you would do it.

Remind her that intellectual skills are like physical skills (e.g., learning to walk, riding a bike); they improve with practice and develop according to neurological timelines that differ between people.

Provide opportunities for students to connect background knowledge and areas of interest to community service projects.

Remind her that the quality of friendships is more important than the quantity; help her understand “popularity” does not equate to substantive, supportive friendships.

Provide opportunities for her to feel, experience, and share her emotions in a way that feels safe.

Ask questions during shared reading. Make predictions.

Share connections.

Use the story as a basis for pretend play.

Be aware of joking about your own challenges (e.g., instead of “You might be like me. “I’m not a math person.” say “math was a struggle for me too, so I had to work at it more”).

Help her select extracurricular activities that she is drawn to from interest or compassion, rather than participating in activities for resume-building or to check a box.

Does she identify healthy peer relationship indicators: Can she be herself with her friends?

Does she set boundaries?

Does she avoid exclusion and rumor-spreading?

Encourage regular structured/ unstructured exercise and play without overscheduling—quality of activity is better for restoration than quantity.

A recent review of societal factors related to independence and children’s well-being points to the decline in children’s independent activities over time as a key variable in understanding their worsening mental health.14 Given the well-established link between locus of control and children’s well-being, the authors of this study identify independent activities, including unsupervised play and problem-solving, as a step on the path toward increased autonomy and stronger mental health.15 Other research outlines a potential relationship between adventurous play and decreased anxiety.16 Risky play, adventurous play that holds social and psychological benefits for children, “allows children to engage in risk assessment, negotiate risk, and understand their limits” in ways that support appropriate growth in independence and selfconfidence.17 For parents, educators, and those working with children, these conceptual models offer practical, sustainable strategies to try

with children of all ages. For example, adults might offer preschool children opportunities to engage in slightly risky play or encourage preadolescents to complete daily tasks without supervision.

Because building resilience is so multifaceted, well-meaning adults might become overwhelmed with the number of components to consider in a child’s life. Luckily, making any moves toward building resilience is likely to have a positive effect on a child’s well-being.

Research indicates that prioritizing relationships children have with the trusted adults in their lives is paramount; the work of boosting resilience is a team effort, and the more adults in a girl’s life who are equipped with these strategies, the more she will flourish.

GIRLS AND RESILIENCE [endnotes]

1

American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Resilience. American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/topics/resilience

2

Gray, P., Lancy, D. F., & Bjorklund, D. F. (2023). Decline in independent activity as a cause of decline in children’s mental well-being: summary of the evidence.

The Journal of Pediatrics, 260.

3

Luthar, S. S., & Cicchetti, D. (2000). The construct of resilience: Implications for interventions and social policies.

Development and Psychopathology, 12(4), 857-885.

4

Van Hooijdonk, M., et al. (2023). Creative problem solving in primary school students. Learning and Instruction, 88, 101823.

5

Yeager, D. S., & Dweck, C. S. (2012). Mindsets that promote resilience: When students believe that personal characteristics can be developed.

Educational Psychologist, 47(4), 302-314.

6

Damon, W., et al. (2019). The development of purpose during adolescence. In Beyond the Self (pp. 119-128). Routledge.

7

Liang, B., et al. (2016). The mediating role of engagement in mentoring relationships and self‐esteem among affluent adolescent girls.

Psychology in the Schools, 53(8), 848-860.

8

James, S., & Hale, L. (2018). Sleep duration and child well-being: a nonlinear association. In Sleep and Developmental Psychopathology (pp. 89-99). Routledge.

9

Brown, M. L. (2019). Integrative approaches to stress, anxiety, and resilience. Pediatric annals, 48(6), e226-e230.

10

Pope, D., et al. (2015). Overloaded and underprepared: Strategies for stronger schools and healthy, successful kids. John Wiley & Sons.

11

Luthar, S. S., Ciciolla, L., & Suh, B. C. (2021). Adverse childhood experiences among youth from high-achieving schools: Appraising vulnerability processes toward fostering resilience. American Psychologist, 76(2), 300.

12

Simon, S. L., et al. (2022). Sleep moderates improvements in mental health outcomes in youth: building resilience for healthy kids.

American Journal of Health Promotion, 36(5), 772-780.

13

Burrow, A., et al. and the National Scientific Council on Adolescence (2023). Cultivating Purpose in Adolescence, Council Report No. 3.

Retrieved from https:// developingadolescent.org/

14

Gray, P., et al. (2023). Decline in independent activity as a cause of decline in children’s mental well-being: summary of the evidence. The Journal of Pediatrics, 260.

15

Weems, C. F., & Silverman, W. K. (2006). An integrative model of control: Implications for understanding emotion regulation and dysregulation in childhood anxiety.

Journal of Affective Disorders, 91(2-3), 113-124.

16

Dodd, H. F., & Lester, K. J. (2021). Adventurous play as a mechanism for reducing risk for childhood anxiety: A conceptual model.

Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 24(1), 164-181.

17

Spencer, R. A., et al. (2021). Early childhood educator perceptions of risky play in an outdoor loose parts intervention. AIMS public health, 8(2), 213.

18

Magsamen, S., & Ross, I. (2024). Your brain on art: How the arts transform us. Random House.

19

Beghetto, R. A., & Kaufman, J. C. (Eds.). (2016). i. Cambridge University Press.

20

Dweck, C. S. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. Random house.

21

Eidens, A. (2019). Big life journal for kids. Eidens, Inc.

22

Edlynn, E. (2023). Autonomy-supportive parenting: reduce parental burnout & raise competent, confident children. First edition. Reedley, CA, Familius.

23

Eggers, D., & Harris, S. (2018). What can a citizen do? Chronicle Books LLC.

24

Liang, B., & Klein, T. (2022). How to navigate life. St. Martin’s Press.

25

Stixrud, W. R., & Johnson, N. (2018). The self-driven child: the science and sense of giving your kids more control over their lives. New York, New York, Viking.

26

Barkla, C. (2021). All bodies are good bodies. (E. Salcedo, Illus.). Little Hare Books.

27

Madison, L. (2002). The feelings book: The care and keeping of your emotions. Middleton, WI: Pleasant Company Publications.

LCRG on resilience: GIRLS AND RESILIENCE

SELECTED RESOURCES Please visit the LCRG library/store to learn more about any of the pillars of resilience (https://lcrg.laurelschool.org/research) YOUR BRAIN ON ART: HOW THE ARTS TRANSFORM US18 NURTURING CREATIVITY IN THE CLASSROOM19 MINDSET: THE NEW PSYCHOLOGY OF SUCCESS20 BIG LIFE JOURNAL: GROWTH MINDSET FOR KIDS & TEENS21 AUTONOMY-SUPPORTIVE PARENTING: REDUCE PARENTAL BURNOUT AND RAISE COMPETENT, CONFIDENT CHILDREN22 WHAT CAN A CITIZEN DO? 23 HOW TO NAVIGATE LIFE: THE NEW SCIENCE OF FINDING YOUR WAY IN SCHOOL, CAREER, AND BEYOND24 THE SELF-DRIVEN CHILD: THE SCIENCE AND SENSE OF GIVING YOUR KIDS MORE CONTROL OVER THEIR LIVES25 ALL BODIES ARE GOOD BODIES26 THE FEELINGS BOOK: THE CARE & KEEPING OF YOUR EMOTIONS27

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