Investigating protective factors that boost resilience in children from low- and middle-income countries: a scoping review

ABSTRACT

Many children growing up in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are at a particular risk for poor developmental outcomes and can face many adverse circumstances growing up. Generally, the psychosocial risk factors affecting the development of these vulnerable children are well-described but research on protective factors that can buffer these risks and boost their psychological resilience seems to be lacking in LMICs. This scoping review examined resilience and protective factors that bolster resilience in LMICs in children under the age of 11 years and the extent to which these factors have been investigated in LMICs at all, and whether specific protective factors emerge. Studies were identified by searching the EBSCOHOST (Africa-Wide Information, CINAHL, MEDLINE, APA PsycINFO, and APA PsycARTICLES), Pubmed, Scopus, and Web of Science databases, and were included if they mentioned resilience in children (<11 years) from LMICs. A total of 26 studies met the inclusion criteria, with only four studies using a longitudinal design. Social support, emotion regulation, and caregiver mental health are important protective factors specific to children in LMICs. Common protective factors found in Western research have not yet been investigated for their role in boosting resilience in children in LMICs – for example, peer support, having a future outlook, and religion. Adversities were often only assumed, with the vast majority of studies not including a direct measurement of adversity. Only 16 studies employed direct measurement of resilience. There is still a paucity in data for protective factors that boost resilience in children under 11 years from LMICs, and especially when it comes to longitudinal studies. Longitudinal observations over time are needed to uncover pathways that influence resilience in young children from LMICs, with clear definitions of adversity.

KEYWORDS:

• Resilience
• protective factors
• children
• LMIC
• adversity
• longitudinal

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/17450128.2023.2224121.

Additional information

Funding

This research has been supported by the Society for Research in Child Development with the Patrice L. Engle Dissertation Grant 2019. Note of thanks: This research could not have been completed without the ongoing support of Gill Morgan, librarian at the University of Cape Town Health Sciences Library.

Notes on contributors

Joannes S.H. de Leeuw

Joannes S.H. de Leeuw is pursuing his PhD in Developmental Psychology at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, working under the supervision of A.Prof Susan Malcolm-Smith. His thesis is focussed on investigating protective factors that support resilience longitudinally in children aged 3–8 years. The research is part of a larger, ongoing study, the Drakenstein Child Health Study (DCHS), which is a multidisciplinary birth cohort study. After his dissertation, Stijn’s goal is to put research into practice and set up resilience interventions for children in low - and middle-income countries. Stijn holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Clinical Developmental Psychology from the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Susan Malcolm-Smith

Joannes S.H. de Leeuw is pursuing his PhD in Developmental Psychology at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, working under the supervision of A.Prof Susan Malcolm-Smith. His thesis is focussed on investigating protective factors that support resilience longitudinally in children aged 3–8 years. The research is part of a larger, ongoing study, the Drakenstein Child Health Study (DCHS), which is a multidisciplinary birth cohort study. After his dissertation, Stijn’s goal is to put research into practice and set up resilience interventions for children in low - and middle-income countries. Stijn holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Clinical Developmental Psychology from the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Susan Malcolm-Smith focuses her research on social-cognitive and socio-emotional development in neurotypical South African children, as well as in clinical groups such as children with ASD and FASD. Topics she investigates include, for example, development of empathy, theory of mind and moral reasoning; developmental trajectories to aggressive externalizing behaviour; and right hemisphere lateralized social behaviour. Susan convenes the master’s Neuropsychology program at the University of Cape Town. Most of her teaching is on this program, with a particular focus on training paediatric neuropsychology.