Untethered provides a cogent overview of the causes, consequences, and varieties of social isolation, weaving together insights from a range of disciplines. The primer also describes a variety of domains in which constructive and creative action is taking shape, including the built environment, technology, and civic engagement.
This report highlights the impact close interworldview friendships have on interfaith learning and development and provides recommendations on how to structure collegiate experiences to prepare graduates who are able to constructively engage in our religiously diverse democracy.
With support from the Pediatrics Supporting Parents (PSP) funder collaborative, the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) studied ways that pediatric primary care could promote positive outcomes around social and emotional development, the parent-child relationship, and parents’ mental health. This report synthesizes 3 categories of action and 14 common practices as well as recommendations for systemic reform.
Dr. Martha G. Welch, of Columbia University Irving Medical Center, explains that emotional connection between two people is not a mental process alone. It involves “gut brain” signaling cues from the body up to the brain. We learn how to relate starting in the womb, as the mother’s and baby’s bodies influence and regulate each other. Dr. Welch shares research on the neurobiological basis behind relationship formation.
This report from More In Common, published in 2018, explores the forces behind political polarization in the U.S. The report asserts that, rather than two overarching groups, Americans are split across seven distinct tribes based on what they believe. Four of these tribes make up the Exhausted Majority.
This strategic brief, produced by the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) in collaboration with the FrameWorks Institute, offers a comprehensive framing strategy for Early Relational Health (ERH). An expanded focus on early relationships within the child health sector provides a wide-scale opportunity to translate the science about relationships into new practices that can ultimately improve greater population and individual wellbeing.
This article in Acta Paediatrica by Martha G. Welch, MD, Director of the Nurture Science Program, explains Calming Cycle Theory. According to this theory, in utero baby and mother establish an emotional connection and visceral/autonomic co‐regulation. After birth, sensory stimulation (such as touch and scent exchange) and emotional communication (such as eye contact and speaking in the mother’s native language) lead to an autonomic response on sensory contact. The result is that mother and infant mutually calm and are attracted to one another.
This comprehensive report offers wide-ranging evidence to show what young people need to develop from preschool to young adulthood to succeed in college and career, have healthy relationships, be engaged citizens, and make wise choices. It concludes that rich experiences combining action and reflection supported by consistent, supportive relationships help children develop a set of critical skills, attitudes, and behaviors.
This report from Making Caring Common, published in 2021, offers a data-driven overview of the state of caring in America. There are hopeful and disconcerting findings. Americans value caring, engage in caring acts, and feel connected across the political divide, but most people don’t engage in “harder forms of caring”.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) issues a strong, unequivocal statement calling for the incorporation of a strengths-based relational health framework into pediatric care as a new approach to addressing childhood toxic stress.
