Moving targets: A developmental framework for understanding childrenʹs changes following disasters

This paper proposes a developmental framework for disaster studies with children that allows researchers to explore the interaction between developmental change (defined as change that is extended, self-regulated, qualitative, and progressive) and cataclysmic change. It outlines three levels of analysis related to disasters: 1) observing the harm of disasters in the context of age-related changes in children, 2) demonstrating how children are restored to age-typical developmental trajectories following disasters, and 3) investigating how specific disaster experiences are integrated over time with childrenʹs ongoing developmental processes, such as their understanding of self and their views of the world. The paper identifies existing studies at each level of the framework, outlines how these levels of analysis can be used in constructing developmental models of disaster response, and offers suggestions for expanding disaster research into additional developmental areas.