Harnessing personal and social resources in managing internalising and externalising symptoms in children living in low-resource settings.

Background: Children growing up in low-resource settings are at greater risk for lifelong psychiatric problems. They are both more likely to have risk factors for early psychopathology and to be less likely to seek help and engage support for these problems. Resource-oriented therapeutic models-those that emphasise strengths of individuals and harness positive personal and social resources-may be particularly crucial in reducing the lifelong health inequalities that could arise amongst children growing up in socially deprived areas. Methods: We used network analysis to investigate the use of personal (different emotion regulation (ER) strategies) and social (social connectedness, religion, recreational activities) resources of children living in East London ( Results: We found that family, peer, and school connectedness were the most central elements of the network, whilst negative ER strategies seemed to be a part of the cluster of anxiety and depression symptoms. Conclusion: Our findings highlight the importance of harnessing both internal strengths and positive social resources when thinking about intervention programmes for symptoms of emotional disorders in children growing up in deprived areas. Identifying strategies for nurturing social connectedness in children's closest environment is also crucial.