Risk behaviors and resiliency within physically abused adolescents☆
Introduction
Resiliency can only be displayed or detected through an individual’s response to adversity, whether it is a stressful life event or a situation of continuous stress (e.g., war, abuse) (Masten & Coatsworth, 1998). Accordingly, resilient people are well-adapted individuals in spite of serious stressors in their lives (Luthar, 1991, Masten, 2001). Human adaptation or competence is composed of the interplay between the context/ecology and the developing organism (Lerner, 1995, Schneirla, 1957).
Moreover, resiliency, itself, is multidimensional in nature. Thus, one may be resilient in one domain but not exhibit resiliency in another domain. As Luthar and her colleagues (Luthar, Cicchetti, & Becker, 2000) stated, “Some high-risk children manifest competence in some domains but exhibit problems in other areas” (p. 548). In a study by Kaufman and colleagues (Kaufman, Cook, Arny, Jones, & Pittinsky, 1994), for example, approximately two-thirds of children with histories of maltreatment were academically resilient; however, when examining these same children in the domain of social competence, only 21% exhibited resiliency.
This study explores resiliency in adolescents who reported being physically abused. Specifically, the study examines the relationship between physical abuse and several risk behaviors, as well as the relationship between physical abuse and thriving behaviors. Thriving behaviors are prosocial behaviors (e.g., helping others) and behaviors needed by adolescents to competently contribute to a civil society (Lerner & Benson, 2003; Scales, Benson, Leffert, & Blyth, 2000). The examination of multiple domains of risk and thriving behaviors is the unique contribution of this study. Indeed, no study of resiliency has examined nine domains simultaneously—seven risk behaviors and two thriving behaviors. The key questions addressed in this study are: (1) How prevalent is physical abuse among various groups of adolescents defined by gender, ethnicity, family structure, and SES? (2) What proportions of adolescents who have been physically abused are exhibiting problem behaviors and what proportions are exhibiting thriving behaviors? and (3) What protective factors are associated with a reduced likelihood of engagement in problem behaviors and increased thriving behaviors among victims of physical abuse?
The assumption of resiliency research is that resiliency can only be displayed or detected through an individual’s response to a stressful life event or situation; the current investigation employed child abuse as its stressful life event or situation. Child abuse has been found to have significant adverse effects on the development and adjustment of children, adolescents, and adults (Garmezy, 1985; Trickett & McBride-Chang, 1995). Indeed, according to Masten and Coatsworth (1998), abuse is a situation of continuous stress and similar to war is a overwhelming stressful experience that has been linked to long term maladaptive behaviors. Moreover, a history of sexual and/or physical abuse has also been found to be associated with adolescent engagement in sexual activity (e.g., Benson & Roehlkepartain, 1993; Perkins, Luster, Villarruel, & Small, 1998). Therefore, child abuse meets the definition of a stressful life event.
Three categories of potential protective factors were examined: (1) individual characteristics, (2) family processes, and (3) extra-familial factors. In their extensive review of 25 years of resiliency research, Masten and Coatsworth (1998) identified protective factors related to the well-being of youth. At the individual level, the current investigation utilizes religiosity and view of the future as potential protective factors associated with resiliency. For example, several researchers found that religiosity provides adolescents with a sense of purpose; that is, despite hard times, some adolescents draw on their faith for a sense of confidence that things will work out (Dryfoos, 1990; Hawkins, Jenson, Catalano, & Lishner, 1988; Hawley & DeHaan, 1996; Higgins, 1988a, Higgins, 1988b; Luthar & Zigler, 1991; Perkins, Luster, & Jank, 2002; Werner, 1990).
Several studies also found that family processes function as protective factors (Block, 1971, Masten et al., 1988, Rutter, 1979; Werner and Smith, 1982, Werner and Smith, 1992). For example, Rutter (1979) found that a good relationship with at least one parental figure could protect against the risk associated with family discord. Moreover, Blum and his colleagues (Blum, Beuhring, & Rinehart, 2000) found that the presence of a positive parent-family relationship was a consistent protective factor that cut across several risk behaviors. For this study, we examined two potential protective factors in the family domain: (a) the amount of family support the adolescent perceived that he or she received, and (b) the amount of positive communication between the adolescent and parent(s), as perceived by the adolescent.
Protective factors also have been identified at the extra-familial level of the adolescent’s ecology and include: supportive relationship with adults other than the adolescent’s parents (Luthar & Zigler, 1991; Werner, 1990), a positive school climate (Blum, McNeely, & Rinehart, 2002; Bogenschneider, Wu, Raffaelli, & Tsay, 1998; Rutter, 1987), peer group characteristics (Blum et al., 2000, Hawkins et al., 2000; Mahoney & Stättin, 2000; Perry, 2000), and involvement in extra-curricular activities (National Research Council and Institute of Medicine, 2002). For instance, Benson (1990) suggested that having support from an adult outside the family is an asset for adolescents that decreases their likelihood of engaging in risk behaviors. Resiliency researchers found that a supportive adult outside the family helps adolescents to feel a sense of coherence and optimism in an otherwise troubled environment (Hawley & DeHaan, 1996; Werner and Smith, 1982, Werner and Smith, 1992). However, Perkins and his colleagues (Perkins et al., 2002) found that having a close relationship with adults outside the home was linked to abused adolescent females engaging in the behavior of purging.
A second extra-familial influence we examined was a positive school climate. Rutter and Quinton (1984) and Blum et al. (2000) found a relationship between positive school experiences and favorable outcomes in adulthood (e.g., good parenting) among women who had been raised in institutions as children. More recently, Blum and his colleagues (Blum et al., 2002) found that adolescents who were connected to their school were less likely to: use alcohol and drugs, engage in deviant behaviors, become pregnant, and experience emotional stress. Positive experiences in school may be especially important if adolescents experience adversity at home (e.g., abuse or non-caring parent).
Based on these previous studies, we expected to find that those adolescents who had been physically abused would be less likely to be involved in risk behaviors if they: (a) were involved in religion, (b) had a positive view of the future, (c) had supportive relationships with family members, (d) had open lines of communication with their parents, (e) had peers engaged in positive behaviors, (f) had supportive relationships with adults outside the family, (g) had positive experiences in school, and (h) were involved in extra-curricular activities.
Section snippets
Participants
A sample of 16,313 adolescents, between the ages of 12 and 17, was drawn from a large Midwestern state (Keith & Perkins, 1995). Initially, a random sample of schools was drawn from a list of public schools in Michigan. An insufficient number of schools from the random sample (i.e., 9 of the sample of 40 schools) were willing to participate in this study, but many other schools volunteered to participate. Overall, this study involved 43 middle and high schools in 36 communities. The study
Results
First, prevalence of physical abuse among various groups of adolescents was examined in terms of gender, ethnicity, family structure, and SES. Out of the 16,313 adolescents who completed the survey, 46.7% were males (see Table 1). The majority of the respondents were White (68.5%), followed by African Americans (24.1%), Native Americans (3.7%), Hispanics (2.7%), and Asians (1%). Most adolescents came from two-parent households (72.1%). The distribution of adolescents coming from different SES
Discussion
Based on previous resiliency research (Masten & Coatsworth, 1998), we expected to find a significant association between physical abuse and risk behaviors. This hypothesis was supported with the aggregated dataset; adolescents who reported being physically abused were more likely than their non-abused peers to engage in each of the risk behaviors. However, it is important to point out that many abused adolescents did not engage in risky behaviors.
Logistic analyses were employed to address the
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