Welcome to the October issue of the IECMH newsletter! We are continuing to focus on the Pyramid Model and explore the universal tier, nurturing and responsive relationships.
Decades of research has now shown that having a secure attachment with a primary caregiver leaves a child healthier and happier in virtually every way we measure such things—in competence and self-confidence, empathy and compassion, resilience and endurance...in the ability to regulate emotions, tap intellectual capacity, and preserve physical health... in pursuing our life’s work and having a fulfilling personal life. Perhaps most important, a secure attachment in a child’s first relationships lays the foundation for good relationships throughout all of life! We now know, without a doubt, that relationships are the engine and the framework for satisfaction and success in ALL domains of life. Research has shown that social relationships promote mental and physical health and even lower the risk of death.
Fifty years of research has shown that children with a secure attachment:
- Enjoy more happiness with their parents
- Feel less anger at their parents
- Get along better with friends
- Have stronger friendships
- Are able to solve problems with friends
- Have better relationships with brothers and sisters
- Have higher self-esteem
- Know that most problems will have an answer
- Trust that good things will come their way
- Trust the people they love
- Know how to be kind to those around them.
Excerpted from Raising a Secure Child, Guilford Press, Hoffman, Cooper, and Powell, 2017, p.15.
Breaking down the researched-backed ways parents and caregivers can support children’s healthy brain development. 7:43