Stress and Child Development: A Review of the Family Stress Model

Authors

April S. Masarik, Boise State UniversityFollow
Rand D. Conger, University of California, Davis

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2-2017

Abstract

In the present report, we provide an illustrative review of the Family Stress Model (FSM) framework¹ to understand how family stress influences children across development in physical, social-emotional, and cognitive domains. We note that the FSM as a theory has evolved through inspection of: (a) new explanatory pathways (mediators); (b) factors that moderate FSM pathways; and (c) joint tests of competing models. Also important, most researchers cited in this review used longitudinal designs to test the proposed causal ordering of FSM pathways, which replicated among a diverse set of families varied in structure, ethnic background, and geographic location. We encourage continued FSM scholarship with prevention and intervention efforts in mind.

Copyright Statement

This is an author-produced, peer-reviewed version of this article. © 2017, Elsevier. Licensed under the Creative Commons. Details regarding the use of this work can be found at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The final, definitive version of this document can be found online at Current Opinion in Psychology, DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2016.05.008

Publication Information

Masarik, April S. and Conger, Rand D. (2017). "Stress and Child Development: A Review of the Family Stress Model".Current Opinion in Psyhcology, 13, 85-90. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2016.05.008