The ReDiKid framework: a transdisciplinary systems approach to child resilience in the digital age.
7 affiliations
- 1Faculty of Physical Culture, Palacký University Olomouc, Olomouc, Czechia.
- 2Faculty of Social Sciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
- 3Yale School of Medicine, Connecticut Mental Health Center, New Haven, CT, United States.
- 4Faculty of Arts, Palacký University Olomouc, Olomouc, Czechia.
- 5Faculty of Science, University of Hradec Kralove, Hradec Kralove, Czechia.
- 6Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University, Brno, Czechia.
- 7Centre for Global Wellbeing, University of Gloucestershire, Gloucester, United Kingdom.
Abstract
Children's lives are increasingly shaped by digital environments that influence learning, social relationships, daily routines, and exposure to both opportunities and adversity. However, existing approaches often examine digital experiences, self-regulation, movement behaviors, and social context separately. This paper introduces ReDiKid (Resilient Kid in the Digital World), a developmental-systems framework for understanding resilience in late childhood, with a primary focus on children aged approximately 9-11 years. ReDiKid conceptualizes resilience as a higher-order, adversity-activated process through which adaptive functioning is maintained, restored, or reorganized over time. The framework integrates four interacting domains: psychophysiological, behavioral, contextual, and digital. It proposes four cross-domain pathways, self-regulatory capacity, movement regulation, social buffering, and digital competence, through which resources and vulnerabilities may shape responses to adversity, recovery, and subsequent adaptation. The framework distinguishes digital adversity from normative digital demands and differentiates resilience from competence, adaptive functioning, and multidimensional wellbeing. Six directional and empirically contestable propositions specify expected within-person, between-person, event-level, and contextual patterns, including conditions under which the propositions would not be supported. ReDiKid also recognizes that pathway operation may vary according to developmental stage, sex and gender, structural inequality, cultural context, neurodivergence, disability, and patterns of digital access. To support empirical testing, ReDiKid outlines a multimodal methodological architecture combining intensive longitudinal designs, ecological momentary assessment, wearable sensing, passive digital tracking, contextual data, and advanced longitudinal and multilevel analyses. ReDiKid provides a common conceptual foundation for coordinated study-specific protocols and cumulative theory development concerning child resilience in digitally mediated contexts.
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BibTeX
@article{pelclova2026redikid,
title = {{The ReDiKid framework: a transdisciplinary systems approach to child resilience in the digital age.}},
author = {Jana Pelclová and Leen d'Haenens and Marc N Potenza and Jaroslava Suchá and Aleš Gába and Tomas Vetrovsky and David Šmahel and Roman Procházka and Adeela Ahmed Shafi},
journal = {Frontiers in psychology},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1919590},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42909088},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - The ReDiKid framework: a transdisciplinary systems approach to child resilience in the digital age.
AU - Jana Pelclová
AU - Leen d'Haenens
AU - Marc N Potenza
AU - Jaroslava Suchá
AU - Aleš Gába
AU - Tomas Vetrovsky
AU - David Šmahel
AU - Roman Procházka
AU - Adeela Ahmed Shafi
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/07
JO - Frontiers in psychology
DO - 10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1919590
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42909088
AB - Children's lives are increasingly shaped by digital environments that influence learning, social relationships, daily routines, and exposure to both opportunities and adversity. However, existing approaches often examine digital experiences, self-regulation, movement behaviors, and social context separately. This paper introduces ReDiKid (Resilient Kid in the Digital World), a developmental-systems framework for understanding resilience in late childhood, with a primary focus on children aged approximately 9-11 years. ReDiKid conceptualizes resilience as a higher-order, adversity-activated process through which adaptive functioning is maintained, restored, or reorganized over time. The framework integrates four interacting domains: psychophysiological, behavioral, contextual, and digital. It proposes four cross-domain pathways, self-regulatory capacity, movement regulation, social buffering, and digital competence, through which resources and vulnerabilities may shape responses to adversity, recovery, and subsequent adaptation. The framework distinguishes digital adversity from normative digital demands and differentiates resilience from competence, adaptive functioning, and multidimensional wellbeing. Six directional and empirically contestable propositions specify expected within-person, between-person, event-level, and contextual patterns, including conditions under which the propositions would not be supported. ReDiKid also recognizes that pathway operation may vary according to developmental stage, sex and gender, structural inequality, cultural context, neurodivergence, disability, and patterns of digital access. To support empirical testing, ReDiKid outlines a multimodal methodological architecture combining intensive longitudinal designs, ecological momentary assessment, wearable sensing, passive digital tracking, contextual data, and advanced longitudinal and multilevel analyses. ReDiKid provides a common conceptual foundation for coordinated study-specific protocols and cumulative theory development concerning child resilience in digitally mediated contexts.
SN - 1664-1078
ER -