May 27, 2015 07:46 PM EDT By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

Children may be able to draw on their personal strengths to regulate stress levels, according to a recent study.

Researchers at the University of Melbourne found that strength-based parenting builds up children's resources. These resources could help them cope with demands that lead to stress.

"While some stress such as toxic stress caused by a long lasting intense negative experience can have a debilitating effect on the wellbeing of children, not all stress is bad or damaging," Lea Waters said in a statement. "Positive stress is a normal part of the developmental process. When managed well, it has the potential to help children learn, grow and adapt. Essential life skills such as coping with and adapting to new situations grow out of positive stress."

Strength-based parenting is an approach where parents deliberately identify and cultivate positive states, processes and qualities in their children.

"This style of parenting adds a 'positive filter' to the way a child reacts to stress. It also limits the likelihood of children using avoidance or aggressive coping responses," Waters said. "While the importance of providing love and emotional support to children is well understood, we now know the importance of deliberately identifying and building strengths in our children."

The findings, which are detailed in the journal Psychology, offer a new avenue for research into the under explored and promising area of positive psychology parenting approaches.

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