Hardwired to Connect : Where Nature Meets Nurture

“Hardwired to Connect”: Where Nature Meets Nurture

A prisoner sits down with a volunteer, recounting tearfully how his father’s alcoholism, his step- mother’s permissive parenting, and sexual abuse from babysitters paved his road to incarceration at age 16. The volunteer’s heart breaks not merely for the prisoner’s sake, but because he has heard similar narratives from other prisoners on many previous occasions.

Although people with loving, Christian parents do make choices that lead to prison, unhealthy home environments are more closely linked to criminal behavior. But why do abuse and neglect predispose children toward deviancy as adults? A major research paper sheds light on how human beings are biologically designed to seek nurturing relationships and spiritual purpose, and how the absence of these beneficial influences adversely affects brain development. While crime is always a moral choice and cannot be outright excused by environmental factors, the study can help us understand how upbringing relates to the empathy deficits seen in prisoners, and how the power of the Gospel brought by caring volunteers can help transform lives.

The study, called “Hardwired to Connect: The New Scientific Case for Authoritative Communities,” was conducted by the Commission on Children at Risk, a team of 33 pediatricians, research scientists, mental health specialists, and youth service professionals. The members of the Commission had become concerned over a rise in the numbers of American juveniles demonstrating mental illness, emotional distress, and behavioral problems—all important predictors of criminal behavior in adults. Consequently, the Commission completed a comprehensive review of existing literature on the subject and evaluated 18 commissioned papers.

In “Hardwired to Connect,” co-sponsored by Dartmouth Medical School, YMCA of the USA, and the Institute for American Values, the Commission lays out several findings with important applications for prison ministry:

The Finding: “Humans are hardwired to form relationships.” At the genetic level, human beings seem designed to form deep, lasting, nurturing attachments to others. Even hormones support the formation of these relationships. Caring for and engaging intimately with others, for example, causes spikes in the levels of oxytocin (a bonding hormone that causes feelings of relaxation and contentment) and depresses levels of testosterone (an aggression hormone).

The Application: Your relational ministry to prisoners matters. While programming is important, nothing can replace the impact of the person-to-person connection you offer as a volunteer. Even though trauma, shame, guilt, or distrust may warp prisoners’ natural instincts for intimacy, rest assured that you will begin to see results as you patiently and prayerfully share the love of Christ with prisoners. Relationships are in our genes.

The Finding: “The presence or absence of a nurturing environment during childhood not only shapes a child’s psychological and emotional health, but also alters brain development in ways that profoundly affect long-term health.” Human communities have long understood the importance of nurture to a child’s long-term character development (see Proverbs 22:6), but the science of the brain is catching up with proverbial wisdom. Scientists now conclude that when a child has a secure and highly nurturing environment, she actually develops brain circuitry that helps her cope well with stress and bond easily with others. Conversely, when a child grows up in an insecure and non-nurturing environment, the child’s brain develops a greater sensitivity to stress and an incapacity to form nurturing relationships.

The Application: Your ministry to families matters. During early childhood and adolescence, young people learn altruism and empathy from adult role models, or they learn distrust and hostility. That’s why your efforts to reconcile and strengthen families through Angel Tree® Christmas, parenting curricula like Great Dads® and InsideOut Dad® Christian, Day with Dad events, child mentoring, and other opportunities are so crucial. As you support the development of secure, nurturing, values-based families, you increase the chances of success for the rising generation.

The Finding: “Nurturing relationships are a central foundation for positive moral and spiritual development.” Children absorb their core values through relationships with adults. The more secure and nurturing the child-adult relationship, the better the moral and spiritual development of the child.

The Application: Programs based on values, community, and mentoring matter. The study focuses on two factors vital to the development of healthy, prosocial individuals: nurturing communities and transcendent values. While the study emphasizes childhood development, these two factors also matter for mature adults learning from positive role models, as well. The InnerChange Freedom Initiative®—a values-based reentry program developed by and affiliated with Prison Fellowship—emphasizes the importance of community and core character values for adult inmates of varying ages, and its graduates exhibit low recidivism rates compared to national averages. Other values- or faith-based reentry programs offer similar success stories.

The Finding: “Human beings are biologically primed to seek moral and spiritual meaning” and “a spiritual connection to the transcendent significantly improves physical and emotional health.” Across races and cultures, children seem predisposed to seek out spiritual and moral meaning. Those who find it even enjoy physical benefits, including: stronger immune systems, more positive attitudes about life, reduced risk of injury, less drug abuse, and a “range of other positive health outcomes.”

The Application: The “God factor” matters. Centuries after French philosopher Blaise Pascal wrote about the “infinite abyss [that] can be filled only . . . by God,” scientific evidence now also points to our innate longing for spiritual connection. No matter how far we wander or how hardened our hearts grow, we still long for God and thrive when we find Him. And even more importantly, God does not cease to knock on our hearts’ doors. That’s why as a volunteer you can have hope that every prisoner—young or old—will respond to the Gospel. We are all “hardwired to connect” with Him.