Ann S. Masten

The importance of context for a child’s development is well accepted, with roots in Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems model (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). Neighborhoods provide an important and unique context in which a child spends much of their time. Moreover, neighborhoods can be reflective of community values and resources, such as socioeconomic status, access to parks, and school quality. However, previous research has not yet addressed the relations between neighborhood opportunity, cognitive functioning, and academic success. In this study, we examine the relations between neighborhood opportunity, executive function (EF), and beginning kindergarten achievement. The current study draws on existing data collected from children ages 3-6 years during a study of the value-added to pre-kindergarten screening by adding measures of EF. Data operationalizing neighborhood opportunity in an objective fashion will be added to this data set based on census tract information. The goal of this study is to examine the associations of COI based on residential addresses at the time of screening with concurrent performance on a set of EF tasks and subsequent kindergarten achievement.

This reflection on the history and future of developmental resilience science (DRS) highlights its co-emergence with developmental psychopathology (DP), as well as the roles of this journal and its founding editor, Dante Cicchetti, in the evolution of these intertwined domains of scholarship. A remarkable constellation of scholars at the University of Minnesota shaped the course of both conceptual frameworks and their dissemination. I describe fundamental assumptions common to DP and DRS frameworks that reflect their common roots and the pervasive influence of systems theory on developmental science. I describe four waves of DRS and key principles of DRS at the present time. In conclusion, I consider the possibility that a fifth wave of DRS is emerging with a focus on understanding patterns of multisystem, multilevel processes of resilience and their implications for interventions in the context of interacting …

Climate change is a complex, multisystem phenomenon that disrupts human development both directly and indirectly through the interactions of interconnected systems. This article outlines the physical, social, and psychological impacts of exposure to climate disasters, which are already increasing in frequency and ferocity across the globe. Climate change poses particular challenges for billions of people with vulnerabilities related to geography, age, injustice, poverty, and many other social or economic disadvantages. In this article, we apply resilience and positive development frameworks to describe the resources and processes at the level of the individual, the family, and the community that can prepare and support people as they contend with the impacts of climate change. To illustrate these frameworks in action, we give examples of promising interventions that focus on mobilizing powerful human adaptive …

This study examined gender and immigrant status differences in stability and change in the Big Five traits in a sample of early adolescents in Greece from economically disadvantaged schools with a high immigrant composition (65% first- or second-generation immigrants). Youth in the sample (N = 1252, 46% female, ages 12–13 at time 1) self-reported Big Five traits annually for 3 years. Mean-level and rank-order stability were examined separately by gender and immigration history. Growth modeling of mean-level scores showed declines in all five personality traits for both genders between ages 12 and 14, followed by increases in conscientiousness for girls and boys, and increases in agreeableness and openness to experience for boys only. In sensitivity analyses, boys showed disruption at all levels of perceived economic stress, but only girls with high levels of perceived economic stress showed disruption …

Early childhood executive functioning (EF) predicts later adjustment and academic achievement. However, measuring EF consistently and efficiently across settings in early childhood can be challenging. Most researchers use task-based measures of EF, but these methods present practical challenges that impede implementation in some settings. The current study of 380 3–5-year-old children in the United States evaluated the psychometric properties of a new 14-item parent-reported measure of EF in a diverse urban school district. This questionnaire aimed to capture a normative range of EF skills in ecologically valid contexts. There was evidence for two specific subscales – one that measures children’s EF challenges and another that measures children’s EF skills. Results suggested that several items demonstrated differential item functioning by age and race. After adjusting for measurement differences across …

BackgroundThe experience of homelessness and child protection involvement pose risks to children's school success. Elucidating processes by which these interrelated systems affect child well-being is important for guiding policy and practice.ObjectiveThis study examines the temporal relation between emergency shelter or transitional housing use and child protection involvement among school-aged children. We evaluated effects of both risk indicators on school attendance and school mobility.Participant and settingUsing integrated administrative data, we identified 3278 children (ages 4 to 15) whose families used emergency or transitional housing in Hennepin and Ramsey County of Minnesota during the 2014 and 2015 academic years. A propensity-score-matched comparison group of 2613 children who did not use emergency or transitional housing.MethodThrough a series of logistic regressions and …

Resilience is the capacity of a system, through adaptive processes, to overcome significant threats to its function, survival, or development. In a child, resilience refers to potential or manifested adaptive capacity, drawing on multiple protective systems in and around the child, to respond successfully to adversity, either immediately or in the longer term. Interest in resilience predates written memory, preserved in folk legends, foundational religious texts, and fairy tales about young people of humble origins who accomplish significant deeds to help others. However, as our planet faces the cascading challenges and disruptions posed by a pandemic and the accelerating disasters of climate crisis, the study and promotion of children’s resilience is growing more urgent (Mustak 2022). Natural disasters and ensuing economic and political upheaval can cause famine and mass displacement that devolve into armed conflict …

Predicting changes in internalizing distress as a function of basic training stressors among National Guard recruits. Examining main effects and moderations of individual difference variables using a developmental psychopathology framework consistent with Garmezy and colleagues (1984). Garmezy, N., Masten, AS, & Tellegen, A.(1984). The study of stress and competence in children: A building block for developmental psychopathology. Child development, 97-111.