Experiencing hardship early in life is awful. And worse, it can mean a difficult road ahead. Living a life without any stress seems like a much better alternative. But it isn't necessarily a good thing, research is now showing. A small amount of stress may actually help kids build resilience, which is the ability to bounce back after a bad experience.
In one 2010 study, researchers wanted to understand how stress affects resilience. They surveyed 2, 398 adults in the United States. Participants answered questions about their mental health and overall health. And they indicated if they had experienced varying levels of adversity. The survey showed adults who faced some adversity reported fewer symptoms of psychological problems than those who had experienced heavy adversity. They also performed better than those who had sailed through childhood with few hard times.
David Lyons is a professor at Stanford University in California His team reported evidence for this in a November 2019 paper in Scientific Reports . The team studied small squirrel monkeys. These monkeys experienced varying “doses” of stress. “No stress” monkeys enjoyed a typical life in the lab: They were housed in a cage with their mother and siblings and there was plenty of water and food. A second group faced a mild stressor: They spent an hour a day away from their siblings on 10 straight days. The stress dose went up for a third group where these monkeys had daily separation from siblings and no access to mother during that hour. Two more groups experienced daily separation from both their mother and siblings.
Ten weeks later, each monkey was moved with its mother to an unfamiliar cage. The researchers assessed the monkeys' willingness to let go of mother and explore the new digs On the whole, monkeys that faced one or two stressors(groups2 and 3) depend less o their mothers than those in the last two groups. They also more readily explored their new surroundings In general, they showed less anxiety than both the no stress and high stress groups.
“Growing up healthy means learning how to deal with mild challenges and changes,” Lyons concludes.
【小题1】What does the underlined word “it” in paragraph 1 refer to?| A．Choosing a difficult road. | B．Leading a stress free life. |
| C．Experiencing hardship early. | D．Bouncing back after failing |
| A．Heavy adversity can harm health. | B．Childhood adversity is unnecessary. |
| C．People with more stress are stronger. | D．Adults have much more mental stress. |
| A．They assessed monkeys' mental health. | B．They set small monkeys free in nature. |
| C．They designed different levels of stress. | D．They divided monkeys into two groups. |
| A．Resilience Comes From Nothing but Life Stress |
| B．Mild Stress May Help Children Build Resilience |
| C．Young People Have Trouble Handling Challenges |
| D．Growing Up Healthy Means Adapting to Changes |
