Resilience Following Child Maltreatment: Definitional Considerations and Developmental Variations

Abstract

Resilience following childhood maltreatment has received substantial empirical attention, with the number of studies on this construct growing exponentially in the past decade. While there is ample interest, inconsistencies remain about how to conceptualize and assess resilience. Further, there is a lack of consensus on how developmental stage influences resilience and how protective factors affect its expression. The current systematic review uses a developmental lens to synthesize findings on resilience following child maltreatment. Specifically, this article consolidates the body of empirical literature in a developmentally oriented review, with the intention of inclusively assessing three key areas—the conceptualization of resilience, assessment of resilience, and factors associated with resilience in maltreatment research. A total of 67 peer-reviewed, quantitative empirical articles that examined child maltreatment and resilience were included in this review. Results indicate that some inconsistencies in the literature may be addressed by utilizing a developmental lens and considering the individual’s life stage when selecting a definition of resilience and associated measurement tool. The findings also support developmental variations in factors associated with resilience, with different individual, relational, and community protective factors emerging based on life stage. Implications for practice, policy, and research are incorporated throughout this review.

Reward prospect improves inhibitory control in female university students with a history of childhood sexual and physical abuse

“…an injury inflicted on the child via various non-accidental means), and 18% of children are neglected (e. g. ignorance of the child's needs for affection) (Stoltenborgh, Bakermans-Kranenburg, Alink, & van Ijzendoorn, 2015). While many youth who were exposed to maltreatment remain resilient throughout adulthood (Yoon et al, 2019), childhood maltreatment is associated with 1) developing psychiatric disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety , 2) deficits in psychosocial development (Cracco et al, 2020;Hudson et al, 2020;Nelson et al, 2002), 3) altered neuro-cognitive development (Hart & Rubia, 2012) and 4) deficits in the anticipation and processing of rewards (Dillon et al, 2009;Mueller et al, 2012). Potentially, these alterations in psycho-social development, impaired cognitive control, and reward processing might interact and maintain each other.…”

Investigating the Interrelations Between Systems of Support in 13‐ to 18‐Year‐Old Adolescents: A Network Analysis of Resilience Promoting Systems in a High and Middle‐Income Country

“…Second, results indicated that the interconnectivity between the individual and contextual systems tends to be the strongest in all studied age groups, and the interconnectivity between the individual and caregiver system seems to always be the weakest. This could indicate that the tendency for adolescents to detach from caregiver or family resources and move toward contextual resources (Yoon et al, 2019) might occur in the earliest years of adolescence (i.e., 10–12, see Sawyer, Azzopardi, Wickremarathne, & Patton, 2018). Future studies using samples with other socioeconomic backgrounds and/or different indicators for these resource systems are needed to replicate these results.…”

“…Hence, true developmental processes can only be studied with longitudinal data which would also give an insight into the directions of resources over time and how resource systems influence each other over time (Ungar, 2018). Future studies should include more countries with other socioeconomic characteristics such as low-income, and pre-or early adolescents in order to identify the expected shift from a higher interconnectivity between individual and caregiver resources to a higher interconnectivity between individual and contextual resources (Yoon et al, 2019). Also, even though most of the models showed sufficient stability and accuracy (see Figure S2), four models need to be replicated with larger sample sizes.…”

“…Adolescence accentuates the variable nature of the resources used to support psychosocial development, with concurrent processes of identity development and individuation (Berzonsky, 2011; Erikson, 1968; Steinberg & Morris, 2001). For example, peers and the wider social‐ecological context typically become more important than caregivers as a caregiver’s influence on a child’s environment decreases as the child matures (Yoon et al, 2019; Zimmer‐Gembeck & Skinner, 2011). Children use several strategies to develop a sense of autonomy, including provoking conflict with primary caregivers and straining social norms (Steinberg & Morris, 2001).…”

“…Put differently, adolescent resilience draws variably on multiple systems, including the self, immediate, and extended family, peers, community, and culture. While this complexity is well‐recognized (Masten, 2014; Yoon et al, 2019), the nature of the interactions between resource systems in different countries with different value systems remains unclear.…”