| Toxic stress is a physiological response to chronic environmental stress that impacts child neurological and social-emotional development -- resulting in negative outcomes related to health and well-being throughout the lifespan. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate the Household Strength and Strain Inventory (HSSI) -- a screening tool for use in early childhood service settings for early identification of toxic stress. This study was the first effort to develop and physiologically validate a non-laboratory measure of toxic stress for use in early childhood screening. Validation is an iterative process that must occur across multiple replication studies. However, the results of this study revealed promising support for this tool in terms of internal consistency reliability, construct validity, and some evidence of convergent and predictive validity. Therefore, the Household Strength and Strain Inventory may serve to inform social work and other practitioners in the evaluation of young children and families as the first step toward enhanced early childhood screening and promotion of healthy social-emotional development. |
