PSYC 331
Risk and Resilience in Early Development
Last Offered Fall 2008
Division II
This course is not offered in the current catalog

Children are often viewed as vulnerable members of our society, worthy of great care and protection. Paradoxically, equally commonplace is the perception that children are hearty and resilient individuals who more readily adapt to change than adults. This contradiction is most evident during early development, when the remarkable plasticity of the rapidly developing brain offers infants and young children an exquisite sensitivity to contextual forces, both positive and negative. This tutorial explores the risk and protective factors, both within and outside of the young child, that give rise to continuity and change in early development and focuses on the challenges of translating risk and resilience research into programs that optimize development. Evidence drawn from theories of early experience and developmental psychopathology will frame our review of the literature on prenatal risk factors, including teratogens and maternal stress; genetic influences, including gene-by-environment interactions; infant risk factors, including medical fragility and temperament; caregiving risk factors, including maternal and paternal factors and childcare settings; socioeconomic risk factors, including poverty; and child abuse and neglect. Tutorial assignments will focus heavily on critical evaluation of the quality of the research and to the translation of the research to applied programs.