Multisystem Resilience for Children and Youth in Disaster: Reflections in the Conflict of COVID-19

As the frequency of major disasters rises and the world confronts a life-threatening pandemic, resilience investigators are asked to contribute their knowledge and perspectives to help communities and societies prepare and respond more effectively. In response to this call to action, the purpose of this commentary is to consider strategies for promoting resilience in children and youth in the context of the developmental science on disasters, applying two lenses: (1) a resilience framework based on decades of resilience science and (2) observations of the challenges posed by an unfolding pandemic. The authors begin by highlighting the multisystem threats posed by the COVID-19 disaster. Then, they discuss the significance of disaster in the history of resilience science and the emerging consensus in support of a systems definition of resilience. Principles of a systems approach to resilience are delineated briefly along with the concept of negative and positive cascades in disaster. General findings from the research on “what matters” for resilience of children in disasters are highlighted with illustrative reference to COVID-19. Striking parallels are noted in resilience factors observed across systems at the level of children, families, schools, and communities. Implications of a multisystem resilience perspective for action to promote the resilience of children and youth are described, both generally, in preparation or response to disaster and, more specifically, in consideration of COVID-19.

Definitions of disaster vary, although most definitions include the core idea of circumstances that cause large-scale disruption threatening the lives of many people. Some research on disaster in child development is focused only on natural disasters (e.g., hurricane and earthquake) or technological disasters (oil spill) or blends of these categories, as happened during Hurricane Katrina when levees collapsed or after the 2011 earthquake/tsunami in Japan and resulting meltdown of Fukushima. Some reviews include these disasters plus terror attacks (e.g., 9-11) that share the features of sudden onset and large-scale damage, but exclude war. Other reviews include diverse adversities that affect large populations with lifethreatening potential harm, including pandemics, war and terror, and natural disasters. Efforts to distill knowledge from research on the effects of disaster on child development frequently include wide-ranging types of mass-trauma experiences because the nature of risks and responses mobilized by disasters for children are similar, as are the strategies implicated for supporting child well-being in the context of such threat. In alignment with a broad perspective, the authors adopted the following definition of disaster: “an event that suspends normal activities and threatens or causes severe, communitywide damage”. For purposes of this commentary, historical trauma and related intergenerational adversities associated with oppression and racism, which represent profound threats to human development, are discussed primarily as moderators of risks and harm from COVID-19.

Promoting resilience in disaster is a multisystem challenge, requiring the collaboration and insights of people in many systems and disciplines. Bolstering or restoring key adaptive systems implicated in multiple disciplines on resilience is central, informed by the growing knowledge base on resilience in different systems. However, much more focus is needed on the processes that connect systems and foster positive multisystem cascades of resilience. Integrating and applying the knowledge from different disciplines and systems are going to require not only expertise from many disciplines and sectors, as well as funding, but also informed leadership and teams of responders with the skills and mindsets needed to communicate, cooperate, and coordinate efforts across sectors and levels. Multisystem preparation and effective responses in the context of disasters call for coordinated expertise and cooperation that is likely to require multisystem training and planning at local, state, national, and global levels.

The resilience of children in disasters depends on many systems and adaptive capacities within the child, in relationships with caregivers, families, or friends, and in resources and capacities provided by families, schools, and communities. Each of those systems depends on other systems and resources as well as internal capabilities. Disasters can overwhelm many of the systems that children and families depend on, either simultaneously or in a devastating cascade of challenges. However, disasters also mobilize responses across many systems and motivate better responses in the future. COVID-19 is uncovering many gaps in how well many communities are prepared to meet the needs of children and families in this pandemic as well as the cost to collective resilience of health and socioeconomic disparities. It is imperative to respond now to the pandemic disaster with the best knowledge available on what matters for children and what works to protect them. However, it also is crucial to learn as much as possible from this disaster to prepare for future shocks, both expected and unknown.

This article was originally published in Adversity and Resilience Science. It was written by Ann S. Masten and Frosso Motti-Stefanidi.