Finding the Balance: Transforming How We Think About the Body’s Response to Stress in Early Childhood
Explore how the balance of stress and resilience shapes children’s health and development, as well as strategies to strengthen protective factors and support adaptive stress responses.
This working paper from the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child offers key insights into the biology of stress, adaptation, and resilience, as well as practical guidance for community-focused policies and investments that strengthen protective factors, ensuring that stress responses remain adaptive rather than harmful.
The paper brings together evidence showing that when families have access to reliable support and opportunities, they can provide the stable, predictable environment young children need to develop a stress response system that builds resilience. Both responsive caregiving and supportive communities can work together to strengthen this system – promoting robust development and school success in the short term, better health across a longer lifespan, and full participation in thriving communities as adults.
Sections Include:
- React, Adapt, Restore: How the Stress Response Works
- Factors That Affect Variation in Sensitivity to Stress
- Impacts of Stress Responses on Early Childhood Development
- How Protective Factors Affect the Impact of Stress & How We Can Strengthen Them
- Measuring Stress Activation in Young Children
- Toward a More Balanced Approach to Stress and Resilience
Suggested Citation: National Scientific Council on the Developing Child. (2026). Finding the Balance: Transforming How We Think About the Body’s Response to Stress in Early Childhood: Working Paper 18. Retrieved from www.developingchild.harvard.edu