Stability Can Have Long-Lasting Effects on Childhood Development

Children grow up in a complicated world full of many factors that impact their development. A new paper from the Center on the Developing Child (CDC) details how promoting stability in the lives of young people can be a powerful tool for supporting early development and lifelong health.

“When it comes to development, stability is critical,” says Lindsey Burghardt, the center’s chief science officer. “From an infant's first foundational relationships to the policy decisions that shape economic realities for families — fostering stable, predictable developmental environments is one of the most important things we can do to promote healthy development and lifelong well-being.”

Stability, as the CDC describes it, acts as a “web of interconnected influences” that support a child as it develops. Strengthening stability in one area  — housing, caregiver relationships, or financial security, for example  —  can greatly impact other aspects of a child’s environment. Better financial security, for example, can offer more improved housing options and additional caregiving opportunities for parents and their children.

“From Resources to Routines: The Importance of Stability in the Developmental Environment,” released in March, details the various factors that make up a web of stability are “shaped by the decisions we make as a society,” which means that policymakers deciding things such as zoning laws, housing codes, and urban planning, “have created an unfair distribution of both adversity and opportunity across communities.”

These decisions, which the paper notes are “far-removed” from raising children often have a disproportionate impact on some communities and ZIP codes compared to others. While many of the decisions to create built infrastructure have already been made, the CDC paper notes that future decisions about zoning laws and urban planning made with stability in mind can help improve conditions and health outcomes for those negatively impacted.

“Evidence shows that when children do encounter instability, stabilizing their situations leads to improvements in behavior as well as cognitive and emotional development,” the paper reads. “To help our children and communities thrive now and across generations, it is essential that we make policy decisions that preserve and enhance stability for children and their caregivers.”

Addressing the systemic inequalities that often lead to sources of instability for children living in poverty and children of color, researchers note, would have a positive impact on the many people working in fields such as health care, education, social services, and others who are tasked with maintaining this interconnected web of stability as well.

“We all have a role to play in creating and maintaining stable developmental environments where our children and their caregivers can thrive,” the paper concludes.

Read the full paper here.

The Web of Stability 

• Financial stability – Unpredictable family employment changes lead to disruption of family routines.
• Food security – Unstable access to nutritious food impacts children’s learning and health, including higher rates of absenteeism in schools and increased likelihood to repeat grade levels.
• Foundational relationships – Stable relationships between children and responsive adults in their homes, childcare, school, or other settings provide important elements of safety and security for developing children.
• Housing and neighborhoods – Abrupt and especially frequent moves create instability, weaken their sense of security, and elevate stress levels. Combined with financial instability, it can lead to losing housing, another key contributor to adverse outcomes for children.
• Climate change – A changing climate causes more wildfires, floods, hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, and other severe weather events that impact housing, food insecurity, and disruptions that impact overall stability.

The Body Reacts

Researchers noted that children’s bodies adapt to disruptions of stability when the expected patterns of their lives are frequently interrupted. When these events threaten their safety and create an unpredictable environment, a child’s body can change in three key ways:

• Activating The Stress Response System – Unpredictability is a sign to babies that their world may not be safe, which causes the release of stress hormones (cortisol) and immune responses like inflammation. While protective in the short term, long-term exposure without comfort from stable relationships with adults can impact the brain and disrupt learning, behavior, and health both in the short and long term.
• Hypervigilance To Threats – Brain circuits that detect and respond to fear are used more frequently, developing stronger and more rapidly. That rapid use can make them overactive, leading to a false sense of threat, even in neutral situations.
• Accelerated Puberty – Research has shown early puberty can lead to increased risks of some cancers, obesity, shortened adult height, and type 2 diabetes, along with mental health disorders like anxiety and depression. 

How to Promote Stability

What can schools, including early childhood centers and at-home day cares, do to help kids develop a strong sense of stability? The Center on the Developing Child offers a few suggestions, such as predictable schedules for naps, meals, and bedtimes for children. Creating routines that offer consistency to a developing child’s daily biological rhythms, the center notes, lays the foundation for higher-level learning and overall physical health.