Overview

There is now a lot of evidence to show that trauma and stress impacts on children’s health and wellbeing and can have enduring consequences throughout their lives. It is also clear that some children do very well despite having these challenges. The Childhood Resilience Study is a five-year study to develop a better understanding of how this happens and how children grow up to be strong and resilient.

Resilience can be understood as the process by which an individual draws on internal and external resources to navigate adversity. Strengths (and adversity) will exist in different domains – within the child but also in their relationships and social environments.

We have developed a multi-domain, socially inclusive child resilience measure for the general population that was co-designed with Aboriginal and refugee background communities.

We are now examining data from over 1000 parents and children to explore resilience and mental health in different contexts and experiences, including Aboriginal families, refugee background families and children exposed to family violence.

Research team

Lead researcher

Dr Deirdre Gartland
Team Leader/Research Fellow
Intergenerational Health

Collaborators

Thanks to our key partners, funders, and supporters.

Funding

• National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)
• Myer Family Foundation
• Murdoch Children's Research Institute

Study partners

• Aboriginal Health Council of South Australia Inc.
• Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture
• Pangula Mannamurna Inc.
• Wadja Aboriginal Family Place, Royal Children’s Hospital
• South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute

Publications

Gartland, D., Riggs, E., Giallo, R., Glover, K., Casey, S., Muyeen, S., Weetra, D., White, S., Koolmatrie, T., & Brown, S. J. (2021). Using Participatory Methods to Engage Diverse Families in Research about Resilience in Middle Childhood. Journal of Healthcare for the Poor and Underserved, Nov, 1844-1871. https://doi.org/10.1353/hpu.2021.0171