Learned Helplessness

The SRCD conference gave me a few more things to think about. Kathryn Grant had some very important points about stressors in the context of poverty and mitigating the outcomes. Her take home message was that kids living in poverty who have coping mechanisms that don't have a lot of positive benefits, may succumb to learned helplessness. Like the Seilgman's dogs who first tried to avoid the shocks, but eventually gave up and stopped trying, children living in poverty may do the same. In fact, when Grant looked at the kinds of support kids had there were a few different groups. One group said they "do nothing" to cope in the face of stress. Another said they were "self reliant" and used self initiated coping mechanisms. The third group relied on their friends for support, and the fourth group had a larger support network of family, friends, etc. Of course the group with the larger network fared better, but the interesting finding was that the "do nothing" group were better off than the "self reliant" group. It is as if, those who tried to handle everything themselves with their own skills would get discouraged more easily.

I think this sits nicely with social capital theory. Here is where it is important to develop those skills that children need to be resilient and hopeful. BUT, it is also important to develop support networks and resources for the children to rely on as well. An analogy that comes to mind in a clinical setting would be if a client was trying to quit smoking and the psychologist taught the client a new technique. The client goes home, armed with this new knowledge and a new skill, but everyone in the home environment is still smoking and in fact they give the client a hard time when he practices his technique in front of them. So, the whole intent backfires. If, however, the psychologist had told the client how to talk with the family and elicit their support in his cessation efforts, the technique may have been more successful.

So in terms of fostering resilience it is important to look at how in isolation the skills we are developing on an individual level may actually be detrimental in the impoverished environment. And also working to develop all aspects of the person, rather than just one dimension.