Childhood Adversity Theory of Entrepreneurship
Another biological theory is the childhood adversity theory. While researchers have looked at resilience in adults, few have examined the how childhood adversity may affect entrepreneurial intentions. Using a variant of the underdog theory, which looks at how negative experience shape an individual's resilience. Recent research has looked at samples of entrepreneurs from the Great Chinese Famine of 1959–1961 and war-torn Vietnam. Both studies find that individuals who endured childhood adversity are more likely to become entrepreneurs. Both paper use the ‘underdog’ theory of entrepreneurship proposed by Miller and Le Breton-Miller (2017). The gist of the underdog theory is that "negative personal circumstances of an economic, sociocultural, cognitive, and physical/emotional nature may have a … powerful role to play in getting people to become effective entrepreneurs" (p. 3). The theory suggest that life challenges require the development of coping and adaptive skil