Targeting the Proximal Mechanisms of Stress Adaptation in Early Adolescence to Prevent Mental Health Problems in Youth in Poverty

The Poverty-Related Stress Scale: Development and Validation of a Multidimensional Measure Assessing Poverty-Related Stressors

“…Additionally, the lack of a definitive and observable psychosocial factor was surprising, as research consistently highlights the importance of psychological and social processes in the formation of poverty-related stress [20,22]. In a review of item content, psychosocial elements are present yet interspersed across all three first-order factors.…”

“…While proxy measures of poverty-related stress are associated with general life stressors [18], underlying features of povertyrelated stress often include financial, physical, and psychosocial challenges specific to low-income and resource-depleted communities. These challenges include, but are not limited to, unreliable transport resources, interpersonal and community violence, threats to basic needs (e.g., shelter and food), increased exposure to illness, significant noise disturbances within the home, social barriers in seeking and obtaining work, difficulties accessing basic resources (e.g., showers and laundry), premature dissolution of key social supports, and financial restrictions in obtaining environmental resources [5,15,[19][20][21][22][23]. Over time, these stressors overwhelm different regulatory systems making it difficult for low-income individuals to maintain adequate levels of health, engage in purposeful, goal-oriented approaches to coping, and cultivate key cognitive-affective resources (e.g., optimism and emotion regulation; [19,23,24]).…”