The Development of Youth Resilience to Neighborhood Disadvantage

Project Summary/Abstract Much of the youth resilience literature to date has focused on resilience to family adversity, with far less examining resilience to neighborhood adversity. This is a key gap in the literature because neighborhood disadvantage is a robust indicator of poor outcomes throughout the lifespan. The focus on only one type of

resilience (psychiatric) to the exclusion of others (social, emotional, and academic) and the inconsistent evidence of stability in resilience across development further exacerbate this gap. The transitions from middle childhood to adolescence and adolescence to emerging adulthood are important developmental periods

marked by agency, cognitive, and self-regulation gains. The proposed research aims to examine not only how resilience can change from middle childhood to adolescence and to later emerging adulthood, but whether these developmental changes vary by type of resilience (psychiatric, social, emotional, academic), and finally,

how those changes might differ with protective factors (i.e., warm and involved parenting, structural neighborhood protective features). During the K99 phase, Specific Aim 1 will investigate trajectories of the multifaceted conceptualization of resilience from middle childhood to adolescence and Specific Aim 2 will

examine how these resilience trajectories may change when considering the protective factor of warm and involved parenting. During the R00 phase, Specific Aim 3 will investigate how a comprehensive set of positive structural neighborhood features (previously linked to resident well-being) promote youth resilience during the

critical transitions between middle childhood and emerging adulthood. Dr. Elizabeth Shewark’s background in developmental psychology, family systems, advanced methods, and neighborhood effects uniquely positions her to carry out this line of research. Dr. Shewark’s long-term career goal is to lead an interdisciplinary

research team that investigates how and by what mechanism(s) the contexts in which youth are developing impact their resilience. To independently lead this future research team, the goal of this Pathway to Independence Award is to build expertise in youth resilience to neighborhood adversity, and gain further

training in cutting edge longitudinal analytic techniques, the assessment of positive structural neighborhood features, and conducting research in vulnerable at-risk populations. The proposal includes a highly established group of researchers who will strengthen the interdisciplinary impact of Dr. Shewark’s work and her

development into an independent researcher. The theoretical knowledge and methodological skills gained during this project will allow Dr. Shewark to produce a rich body of research on how warm and involved parenting and structural neighborhood protective factors shape the development of youth resilience, facilitating

the identification of modifiable targets for intervention programs to promote healthy youth development.