Protective factors and resilience after childhood adversity

Hard experiences are only half of any childhood story. The other half is what helped: a grandparent who listened, a teacher who noticed, a friend's kitchen where you felt safe. Researchers call these protective factors. They can lower the chance of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and help buffer a child against their harm.^1,2

This page explains what the research says about positive childhood experiences, the power of one caring adult and the role of community. It also explains why it is never too late to build protection in your own life, and how you can be that caring adult for a child today.

What are protective factors?

Protective factors are people, skills and conditions that make good outcomes more likely, even when life is hard. The CDC lists many of them. Some are in the family or the child:¹

• Safe, stable, nurturing relationships at home
• Caring adults outside the family who act as mentors or role models
• Good friendships
• Doing well in school
• Caregivers who can meet basic needs and who settle conflict peacefully
• Families who do fun, positive things together
• Strong networks of social support

Others are in the community, such as safe housing, good child care and preschool, after-school programs, access to health care and neighbors who feel connected.¹

Protective factors do not erase what happened. But they can change how a child's body and mind respond to stress. A caring adult can help calm a child's stress response and buffer the child against harm.²

Positive childhood experiences

For years, ACE research looked only at what went wrong. Newer studies also ask what went right.

In a 2015 Wisconsin survey, about 6,200 adults answered questions about seven positive childhood experiences:³

1. Being able to talk with family about feelings
2. Feeling that family stood by them in hard times
3. Enjoying community traditions
4. Feeling a sense of belonging in high school
5. Feeling supported by friends
6. Having at least two adults outside the home who took a real interest in them
7. Feeling safe and protected by an adult at home

Adults who recalled six or seven of these had 72% lower odds of depression or poor mental health than adults who recalled two or fewer. About 1 in 8 of the first group had depression or poor mental health, compared with about half of the second group. This held true whether people had one ACE or many.³ Adults with more positive experiences were also more likely to say they always had the emotional support they needed.³

A 2025 study of about 21,000 adults in four states used the same seven items. Adults with more positive childhood experiences were less likely to have most long-term illnesses, including heart disease, diabetes, depression and lung disease.⁸

These were surveys, not experiments. People looked back on their childhoods, and the studies cannot prove cause.³ But the pattern is consistent. A 2023 review of 58 studies found that positive childhood experiences were linked with better mental health, physical health and daily functioning in adulthood.⁹

The same review made another hopeful point. Many people had both hard and good experiences, and having one did not rule out the other.⁹ Good experiences seemed to help mostly on their own, alongside the hard ones, rather than by canceling them out.⁹

The power of one caring adult

Harvard's Center on the Developing Child reviewed decades of research on children who did well despite serious hardship. The most common factor was at least one stable and committed relationship with a supportive adult. That adult might be a parent, grandparent, other relative, teacher, coach or neighbor.⁴

The Center describes development as a balance scale. Hard experiences pile weight on one side. Supportive relationships and chances to build skills tip the scale back toward good outcomes.⁴ It also names other factors that help:⁴

• A sense of control over one's own life, or mastery
• Skills for planning, focusing and managing impulses and feelings
• Faith or cultural traditions that give hope and meaning

If you had even one person like this, that relationship may have mattered more than you know. If you did not, that was not your fault, and support can still make a difference now.

Community matters too

Protection does not only come from inside a family. The CDC says children and families thrive when they have safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments.⁵ It encourages mentoring, after-school programs, quality child care, and support for parents through programs and family-friendly work policies.⁵

Faith communities and youth groups can be part of this too.⁵ A community where people know and look out for each other protects children. Neighborhoods where violence and poverty run high make childhood harder.¹

Resilience is ordinary

The psychologist Ann Masten called resilience "ordinary magic." After reviewing many studies, she concluded that resilience is common. It usually comes from ordinary human systems, such as close relationships and a child's normal ability to learn and adapt. It does not depend on rare or heroic traits.⁶

This matters, because it means resilience is not something you either have or lack. It can be supported and built. You can measure some parts of your own resilience with our resilience test and learn more in Resilience.

It is never too late to build protection

Most research on protective factors looks at childhood. But protection keeps working in adulthood. Harvard's Center says the skills that underlie resilience can be strengthened at any age.⁷

Adult relationships matter. In a U.K. study of about 1,100 families, mothers who were maltreated as children were less likely to have children who were maltreated when they had supportive, trusting partners, when they showed warmth toward their children, and when there was little violence between the adults.¹⁰ A federal research brief notes that parents who broke the cycle of abuse were more likely to have warm partners, social support and fewer money problems. They were also more likely to have had therapy at some point.¹¹

Support after hard times matters for adults too. A review of risk factors for PTSD found that lack of social support after trauma was one of the stronger predictors of who developed it.¹²

Ways to build protection now:

• Find one trusted person. A friend, relative, pastor, counselor or support group member you can talk with openly about your life.
• Join something regular. A class, faith group, senior center, club or volunteer role adds steady contact and meaning. See Ways to feel more connected.
• Build skills. Emotion skills, problem solving and self-compassion can be learned. See Healing as an adult.
• Reconnect with your traditions. Faith, culture, music, food and family stories can give a sense of belonging.
• Get professional help when needed. Therapy can be a protective relationship in its own right. See Treatment.

Be the caring adult for a child

You do not have to be a parent to protect a child. The CDC suggests that trusted adults can mentor young people or offer to babysit to give parents a break.⁵ Grandparents, aunts, uncles, neighbors, coaches and volunteers can all be the steady adult a child remembers.

Simple things count:

• Show up regularly and keep your promises.
• Listen without rushing to fix or judge.
• Notice what the child does well, and say so.
• Share family stories and traditions.
• Help the child feel safe, both in body and in feelings.

If you are raising grandchildren, see Parenting with your own history, which includes a section for grandparents.

A note about fairness

Protective factors are not a test that you passed or failed. Many people grew up without a safe adult, a good school or a caring neighborhood. That was not their fault. It is also not a sign that it is too late. The research on adult relationships and resilience points the same way: support at any stage of life can help.^7,10

Common questions

When to get help

Reach out to a doctor, counselor or therapist if your childhood still weighs on your mood, sleep, relationships or health. You do not have to be in crisis to deserve help. See how to find a therapist.

Education only. This page is general information written from the sources listed. It is not medical, legal or financial advice and does not replace a doctor, therapist or lawyer who knows your situation. How we write and check pages.