Stress coupled with a belief that a problem can be overcome strengthens the immune system, a body of research reveals.
Two major studies looked at adolescents born in difficult environment and analyzed the key difference between those who showed resilience and those who didn't. “A more positive attitude towards life,” the researchers reports. The resilient teens believed they could change their environment.
Dr. Albert Bundura, a Stanford University professor and one of the pioneer in this new field says: “People have the power to influence what they do and to make things happen” - so long as they have a conviction that they can change things.
Sociologist at Cambridge University have studied children from all kinds of backgrounds and communities. They zeroed in on the most resilient children among them. According to the report the common factor was: “Religious beliefs that provided stability and meaning to the lives, especially in times of hardship.”
Bundura looked at families that helped their children overcome obstacles and challenges in their environments. “Successful families developed links with local churches and other social organizations that gave their kids positive role models,” he says.
These were parents, Bundura reports , who didn't let their dismal environment defeat them. “They created social ties that helped protect their kids against the dangers in their world.”
The same hold true of schools. Researchers have discovered that certain school can help “at risk” kids much more than others. “Teachers in these schools tend to belief that their students have the capacity for resilience. They belief that individuals can change – and even transform – their lives,” the researchers say, adding that, “they have high expectations.”
“People who believe they can be resilient develop it,” the report says, “people who believe their students could accomplish more, enabled them to do just that – even kids from impoverished homes, violent neighborhood, and those with drug-addicted parents.”
Dr. Wendy Haight conducted a four – year study on children who regularly experienced isolation and discrimination. But this kids had a different experience in the first church they attended, the Sunday School teachers developed faith in them. Thus “they developed a sense of belonging, a healthy self-esteem, identified with the message of love and hope and equality,” hence “they were able to raise above hatred and low expectations of their teachers – resilience was nurtured.”
These studies have reversed the thinking that stress of whatever course will always result in the break down of the immune system and the disintegration of life once they are coupled with resilience.
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