Stressors and development: a reciprocal relationship

Abstract

In this article we have attempted to delineate the importance of developmental levels in a young person's response to stressors and, conversely, the effect of stressors on levels of development. In so doing, we isolated specific lines of development from their context. We neglected the important roles of rewards and punishments, permissions and prohibitions, family and community dynamics, values, stories and myths. Even in this simplified schema, we have not addressed the importance of protective and risk factors, neither of which are found in isolation; but all of these issues are the subject of articles elsewhere in this issue.