Review the following summary for a more in-depth look at the five protective factors. This overview was adapted from the Center for the Study of Social Policy.

Parental Resilience

Being a parent can be a very rewarding and joyful experience, but it can also be stressful. Parenting stress is caused by the pressures that are placed on parents in relation to their child: 

• Typical events and life changes (e.g., moving to a new city or not being able to soothe a crying baby)
• Unexpected events (e.g., losing a job or discovering your child has a medical problem)
• Individual factors (e.g., substance abuse or traumatic experiences)
• Social factors (e.g., relationship problems or feelings of loneliness and isolation)
• Community, societal or environmental conditions (e.g., persistent poverty, natural disasters etc.)

Numerous researchers have concluded that how parents respond to stressors is much more important than the stressor itself in determining the outcomes for themselves and their children. Parents are more likely to achieve healthy, favorable outcomes if they are resilient. Resilience is the process of managing stress and functioning well even when faced with challenges, adversity and trauma. Some stressors parents face can be managed easily so that problems get resolved; for example, calling a relative or friend to pick up a child from school when a parent is delayed. But some stressors cannot be easily resolved. For example, parents cannot “fix” their child’s developmental disability. Rather, parents are resilient when they are able to proactively meet personal and family challenges, manage adversities, heal the effects of trauma and thrive given the unique characteristics and circumstances of their family. Demonstrating resilience increases parents’ self-efficacy because they can see evidence of both their ability to face challenges competently and to make wise choices about addressing challenges. Furthermore, parental resilience has a positive effect on the parent, the child and the parent-child relationship. By managing stressors, parents feel better and can provide more nurturing attention to their child, which enables their child to form a secure emotional attachment. Receiving nurturing attention and developing a secure emotional attachment with parents, in turn, fosters the development of resilience in children when they experience stress. Sometimes the pressures parents face are so overwhelming that their ability to manage stress is severely compromised. All parents experience stress from time to time. Thus, parental resilience is a process that all parents need in order effectively manage stressful situations and help ensure they and their families are on a trajectory of healthy, positive outcomes. 

Social Connections

Parents need people who care about them and their children, who can be good listeners, who they can turn to for well-informed advice and who they can call on for help in solving problems. Thus, the availability and quality of social connections are important considerations in the lives of parents. Parents’ social connections—that is, relationships with family members, friends, neighbors, co-workers, community members and service providers— are valuable resources who provide: 

• Emotional support (e.g., affirming parenting skills or being empathic and nonjudgmental)
• Informational support (e.g., providing parenting guidance or recommending a pediatric dentist)
• Instrumental support (e.g., providing transportation, financial assistance or links to jobs)
• Spiritual support (e.g., providing hope and encouragement) 

When parents have a sense of connectedness they believe they have people who care about them; they feel secure and confident that they have others with whom they can share the joy, pain and uncertainties that come with the parenting role; they seek timely assistance from people they have learned to count on when faced with challenges; and they feel empowered to “give back” through satisfying, mutually beneficial relationships. Several research studies have demonstrated that—for both mothers and fathers—high levels of emotional, informational, instrumental or spiritual support is associated with positive parental mood; positive perceptions of and responsiveness to one’s children; parental satisfaction, well-being and sense of competence; and lower levels of anger, anxiety and depression. At the extreme end of the continuum of poor social connections are social isolation (i.e., the lack of available and quality relationships) and loneliness (i.e., feelings of disconnectedness from others). Social isolation is a risk factor consistently associated with disengaged parenting, maternal depression, and increased likelihood of child maltreatment. Similarly, loneliness may be a major stressor that inhibits parents’ ability to provide consistent, nurturing, and responsive care to their children. It may seem that increasing the number of people who could provide constructive social support to parents would be the “cure” for social isolation and loneliness. Parents can feel lonely and isolated even when surrounded by others if relationships lack emotional depth and genuine acceptance. Thus, parents need opportunities to forge positive social connections with at least one other person that engender emotional, informational, instrumental or spiritual support so that meaningful interactions may occur in a context of mutual trust and respect. Constructive and supportive social connections help buffer parents from stressors and support nurturing parenting behaviors that promote secure attachments in young children. Therefore, parents’ high quality social connections are beneficial to both adults and children. 

Knowledge of Parenting and Child Development 

An understanding of parenting strategies and child development helps parents understand what to expect and how to provide what children need during each developmental phase. All parents, and those who work with children, can benefit from increasing their knowledge and understanding of child development, including: 

• Physical, cognitive, language, social and emotional development
• Signs indicating a child may have a developmental delay and needs special help
• Factors that influence parenting practices and the perception of children
• Factors that promote or inhibit healthy child outcomes
• Discipline and how to positively impact child behavior

Gaining more knowledge and skills about child development is particularly important given the recent advances in the fields of neuroscience, pediatrics and developmental psychology. Scientists in these fields have provided much evidence of the critical importance of early childhood as the period in which the foundation for intellectual, social, emotional and moral development is established. Research indicates that a young child’s environment and experiences shape early brain development. Developing brains need proper nutrition, regularly scheduled periods of sleep, physical activity and a variety of stimulating experiences. Developing brains also need attuned, emotionally available parents and other primary caregivers who recognize and consistently respond to the needs of young children, and interact with them in an affectionate, sensitive and nurturing manner. Such care gives rise to the development of a secure attachment between the child and the adult. Young children with secure attachments develop a sense of trust, feel safe, gain self-confidence and can explore their environments because they feel they have a secure base. Numerous longitudinal studies have demonstrated that parental behaviors that lead to early secure attachments—and which remain warm and sensitive as children grow older—lay the foundation for social-emotional, cognitive and moral competencies across developmental periods. In addition, advances in brain research have shown that parental behaviors that forge secure emotional attachments help young children learn to manage stress. Secure attachments can offset some of the damage experienced as a result of trauma (e.g., maltreatment or exposure to violence) In contrast, parental care that is inconsistent, unresponsive, detached, hostile or rejecting gives rise to insecure attachments. Young children who experience insecure attachments display fear, distrust, anxiety or distress and are at risk for long-term adverse effects on brain development including developmental delays, cognitive impairments, conduct problems, psychopathology and relationship challenges. What parents do and how they treat children is often a reflection of the way they were parented. Acquiring new knowledge about parenting and child development enables parents to critically evaluate the impact of their experiences on their own development and their current parenting practices, and to consider that there may be more effective ways of guiding and responding to their children. Furthermore, understanding the mounting evidence about the nature and importance of early brain development enables both parents and those who work with children to know what young children need most in order to thrive: nurturing, responsive, reliable and trusting relationships; regular, predictable and consistent routines; interactive language experiences; a physically and emotionally safe environment; and opportunities to explore and to learn by doing. 

Concrete Support in Times of Need 

All parents need help sometimes. When parents are faced with very trying conditions such as losing a job, home foreclosure, substance abuse, not being able to feed their family or trauma, they need access to concrete support and services that address their needs and help to minimize stress. Assisting parents to identify, find and receive concrete support in times of need helps to ensure they and their family receive the necessities everyone deserves to grow (e.g., healthy food, a safe environment), as well as specialized medical, mental health, social, educational or legal services. Thus, parents need experiences that enable them to understand their rights in accessing services, gain knowledge of relevant services, and learn how to navigate through service systems. Family and child-serving programs must clearly communicate to parents that seeking help is not an indicator of weakness or failure as a parent. On the contrary, seeking help is a step toward improving one’s circumstances and learning to better manage stress and function well. When parents ask for help, it is a step toward building resilience. When parents seek help, it should be provided in a manner that does not increase stress. Services should be coordinated, respectful, caring, and strengths-based. A strengths-based approach helps parents feel valued because they are acknowledged as knowledgeable and competent. They develop a sense of self-confidence and self-efficacy because they have opportunities to build their skills, experience success, and provide help to others. Thus, access to concrete support in times of need must be accompanied by a quality of service coordination and delivery that is designed to preserve parents’ dignity and to promote their family’s healthy development, resilience and ability to advocate for and receive needed services and resources. 

Social Emotional Competence of Children 

Early childhood experiences set the stage for later health, wellbeing, and learning. In the past, most of the focus was on building young children’s academic skills to ensure they were prepared for school. However, in recent years a growing body of research has demonstrated the strong link between young children’s social-emotional competence and their cognitive development, language skills, mental health, and school success. The dimensions of social-emotional competence in early childhood include:

• Self-Esteem: good feelings about oneself
• Self-Confidence: being open to new challenges and willing to explore new environments
• Self-Efficacy: believing that one is capable of performing an action
• Self-Regulation: following rules, controlling impulses, acting appropriately based on the context
• Personal agency: planning and carrying out purposeful actions
• Executive functioning: staying focused on a task and avoiding distractions
• Patience: learning to wait
• Persistence: willingness to try again when first attempts are not successful
• Conflict resolution: resolving disagreements in a peaceful way
• Communication skills: understanding and expressing a range of positive and negative emotions
• Empathy: understanding and responding to the emotions and rights of others
• Social skills: making friends and getting along with others
• Morality: learning a sense of right and wrong 

These dimensions of social-emotional competence do not evolve naturally. The course of social-emotional development depends on the quality of nurturing attachment and stimulation that a child experiences. Numerous research studies show that a relationship with a consistent, caring and attuned adult who actively promotes the development of these dimensions is essential for healthy social-emotional outcomes in young children. Actively promoting social-emotional competence includes activities such as:

• Creating an environment in which children feel safe to express their emotions
• Being emotionally responsive to children and modeling empathy
• Setting clear expectations and limits
• Separating emotions from actions (e.g., “It’s okay to be angry, but we don’t hit someone when we are angry.”)
• Encouraging and reinforcing social skills such as greeting others and taking turns
• Creating opportunities for children to solve problems

Children who have these experiences are able to recognize their and others’ emotions, take the perspective of others, and use their emerging cognitive skills to think about appropriate and inappropriate ways of acting.