About this session

Thursday, 1:40 PM - 3:10 PM

Applying a critical lens to strengths-based developmental frameworks

Substantive research documents how childhood adversity can inhibit developmental outcomes across the life course. In parallel, other investigations have explored how children adapt to those contexts by developing specialized skills or strengths. Such “strengths-based” or “hidden strengths” approaches have become more mainstream within developmental science, particularly in studies of the developing brain. This symposium brings together scholars across career levels using theoretical, quantitative, and qualitative methodologies to interrogate and deepen the value of strengths-based frameworks to science and society. First, a theoretical paper will contextualize the strength-based approach using existing empirical support, highlighting both its need and potential pitfalls. Second, a quantitative empirical paper will show that children’s poverty-related neural adaptations—which correlate with academic performance — may put them at risk for the development of later mental health issues. Third, a qualitative paper will demonstrate that although adolescents and adults endorse strengths-based developmental research, community members also remain skeptical of the methodology and plausible impact on children’s lives. Finally, a discussant and leader in the field will ground the symposia by discussing the implications of strengths-based approaches for the real-world classroom environment, explore its potential implementations, and guide audience discussion. Taken together, this symposium features investigations using diverse methodologies that present a nuanced view of strengths-based frameworks. Ultimately, this work has the potential to move the field of developmental science towards acknowledging duality of impairment and adaption, particularly for children facing ecological adversity.

Paper #1
Title	The promise and pitfalls of a strength-based approach to child poverty and neurocognitive development
Presenting author	Meriah DeJoseph, Stanford University, United States

Paper #2
Title	Academics and Mental Health: The Paradox of Frontoparietal-Default Mode Network Coupling among Children Facing Poverty
Presenting author	Monica E. Ellwood-Lowe, University of Pennsylvania, United States

Paper #3
Title	Community perspectives on strengths-based developmental research: A qualitative inquiry
Presenting author	Dr. Arianna Gard, Ph.D., University of Maryland, College Park, United States

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Session chair
Monica E. Ellwood-Lowe, University of Pennsylvania, United States

Discussant
Dr. Dana Miller-Cotto, Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, United States

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