Storytelling May be a Powerful Boost to Children’s Resilience
I ran across an interesting review of mental health studies concluding that stories are an excellent way to build resilience in children. I’m a firm believer in the power of stories, and I love research that supports my ideas. This particular review reminds us that storytelling is a potent technique that we can use with our families and youth organizations to help our kids recover from trauma.
The review looked at 11 studies published between 2012 and 2022, spanning seven (7) different countries. Several of the studies were extremely small, with one study, for example, involving in-depth testing of only six (6) children. Other studies were more broad, and all of them together dealt with almost 1400 children. Some of the studies tested full-scale curricula with content and activities such as journaling, while others involved simply telling children popular fairytales and cultural stories.
The combined results of the studies were impressive. Having children explore stories in one way or another was related to a measurable reduction in anxiety, depression, and behavioral problems. The various storytelling techniques also appeared to contribute to emotional regulation, increased conflict resolution, coping skills, and self-efficacy.
I was struck by the fact that the studies worked with children from a variety of backgrounds, including serious trauma. Two studies involved refugees, while two others worked with orphaned children. Even in those challenging situations, the various storytelling techniques correlated with measurable increases in resilience factors.
The review didn’t find any single technique to be more effective than another. The researchers theorized that stories help people make sense of their hardships and aid “a child’s emotional development by offering an alternative experience where they can observe their own circumstance through the lens of the character within the story, facilitating the emotional processing of the events.”
As with all these research studies and reviews, correlation does not prove that a given technique will have a specific outcome. It makes sense, though, that stories are so ingrained in the human psyche that they can be a powerful way for us to help our kids. Stories have a way of sliding past our defenses and speaking directly to our emotions and imagination. Children who don’t want to talk about their own feelings may be willing to tell us how a story character feels about a similar situation. Kids who resist our pep talks may find inspiration in stories of people who find a way to thrive in circumstances similar to theirs.
Professors in a Canadian nursing school illustrated this principle with an entertaining study of superheroes and villains. They applied Adverse Childhood Experiences questionnaires to the characters in the Marvel and DC universes. They concluded that traumatic childhoods were equally split between the heroes and the villains in those tales. One of the researchers noted that the results and the stories they studied “may give us opportunities to talk to children about topics that are really difficult by using Marvel and DC characters as a way in.”
This study also illustrates what may be the most important characteristic of storytelling, which is that stories can be fun for our kids. In the midst of all the teaching, therapy, and structure we try to provide, we sometimes forget the importance of finding things that our kids enjoy. Powerful stories may be the only thing we have that can compete with video games and social media. Good stories can teach important lessons while captivating our kids.
Whether it’s a formal curriculum or just taking advantage of a free moment, let’s remember the power of helping our kids find stories that speak to them. To quote a character in one of my favorite books, Sam Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings, “It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. . . . Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now.”
Great stories will stick with our kids longer than anything else we can say to them and give them tools beyond anything we can predict. We need to remember to add that power to our skill set.
