Predictors of resilience in abused and neglected children grown-up: The role of individual and neighborhood characteristics

Abstract

Purpose

This paper examines individual, family, and neighborhood level predictors of resilience in adolescence and young adulthood and describes changes in resilience over time from adolescence to young adulthood in abused and neglected children grown up.

Method

We use documented cases of childhood physical and sexual abuse and neglect (n = 676) from a Midwestern county area during the years 1967–1971 and information from official records, census data, psychiatric assessments, and self-reports obtained through 1995. Analyses involve logistic regressions, replicated with Mplus to test for possible contextual effects.

Results

Almost half (48%) of the abused and neglected children in adolescence and nearly one-third in young adulthood were resilient. Over half of those who were resilient in adolescence remained resilient in young adulthood, whereas 11% of the non-resilient adolescents were resilient in young adulthood. Females were more likely to be resilient during both time periods. Being white, non-Hispanic decreased and growing up in a stable living situation increased the likelihood of resilience in adolescence, but not in young adulthood. Stressful life events and a supportive partner promoted resilience in young adulthood. Neighborhood advantage did not exert a direct effect on resilience, but moderated the relationship between household stability and resilience in adolescence and between cognitive ability and resilience in young adulthood.

Conclusions

Ecological factors appear to promote or interfere with the emergence and stability of resilience following childhood maltreatment.

Introduction

Childhood victimization has the potential to affect a number of domains of a person's functioning (Widom, 2000) and numerous papers have reported on the long-term negative consequences of child maltreatment (Augoustinos, 1987, Beitchman et al., 1992, Berliner, 1991, Widom, 1989b, Wolfe, 1987). However, researchers have also observed that there are children who appear resilient and do not manifest problem behaviors despite facing considerable adversity or trauma in childhood (Cicchetti, Rogosch, Lynch, & Holt, 1993; Egeland, Carlson, & Sroufe, 1993; Garmezy & Masten, 1986; Kaufman & Zigler, 1987; Luthar, Cicchetti, & Becker, 2000; Mannarino & Cohen, 1987; McGloin & Widom, 2001; Sirles, Smith, & Kusama, 1989; Widom, 1989c).

Operational definitions of resilience vary considerably. Some studies have used only one criterion (Chambers & Belicki, 1998; Widom, 1991), while others have used more than one criterion (Chandy, Blum, & Resnick, 1996). For example, researchers have defined resilience as: (1) performing at least above average in school, having no suicide risk, no history of marijuana use, and infrequent or no use of alcohol or tobacco (Chandy et al., 1996); (2) having a good quality of sleep (Chambers & Belicki, 1998); and (3) not being depressed in combination with having good levels of self-esteem (Liem, James, O’Toole, & Boudewyn, 1997).

There is also considerable variation in the methods and samples used in studies that have examined factors that contribute to resilience in abused and/or neglected children (for summaries, see Bolger & Patterson, 2003; Heller, Larrieu, D’Imperio, & Boris, 1999). Longitudinal studies have been used to investigate predictors of resilience among maltreated children, but have been limited to relatively small samples (Egeland et al., 1993, Herrenkohl et al., 1994). Studies that have examined predictors of resilience among adults have generally consisted of qualitative case studies of female victims of sexual abuse (Banyard, Williams, Siegel, & West, 2002; Himelein & McElrath, 1996; Hyman & Williams, 2001; Valentine & Feinauer, 1993).

Despite the lack of an extensive literature on predictors of resilience, a few factors have emerged as likely candidates. Clinicians and child protective service workers have stressed the importance of a significant person in the lives of abused and neglected children. Although Farber and Egeland (1987) found few competent “survivors” among physically or emotionally neglected children, the children more likely to be competent were those whose mothers showed some interest in them and were able to respond to them emotionally. For sexually abused children, one positive mediating variable appears to be the presence of a supportive, positive relationship with a non-abusive parent or sibling (Conte & Schuerman, 1988). Research has also suggested that high (or above average) intelligence or cognitive ability may exert a protective effect in the context of an abusive or neglectful environment (Frodi & Smetana, 1984; Zimrin, 1986). Although Werner and Smith (1982) were not studying abused children, they found that high child intelligence and high verbal skills were associated with resilience in their longitudinal study of children in Kauai where children were followed from birth to young adulthood. Intelligence may play a direct role or it may operate as a protective influence, mediating other factors such as school performance or problem-solving skills which may, in turn, be related to later outcomes.

Studies of the predictors of resilience have focused on how characteristics of the individual, rather than contextual factors—an individual's family, neighborhood, school, or work setting—might contribute to resilience. However, there is evidence that the long-term impact of childhood trauma may depend on characteristics of the family or community in which the child lived at the time of the abuse or neglect experience (Terr, 1983). Drillen (1964) found that the long-term disadvantage for premature infants was especially marked if the child was raised in an unstable, disturbed family setting, whereas premature children raised in stable homes showed minimal or no disadvantage. For some abused and neglected children, Widom (1991) reported that out-of-home placement did not appear to be detrimental to their long-term development and early stable placements were associated with better outcomes. Similarly, children who were reared in stable households tended to be more resilient than those with foster care placements or frequent moves (Banyard et al., 2002, Siegel, 2000).

Other contextual factors may interfere with or promote resilience in abused and neglected children. First, individual and neighborhood level poverty are associated with the risk of child maltreatment (e.g., Coulton & Pandey, 1992; Finkelhor, 1980, Kotch et al., 1997; Newberger, Hampton, Marx, & White, 1986). Studies have also shown links between neighborhood disadvantage and adult outcomes (DeFrances, 1996, Goldsmith et al., 1998; Phillips, 1996, Ross, 2000, Sampson et al., 1997) and between neighborhood disadvantage, stressful life events, and children's adjustment (Dubow, Edwards, & Ippolito, 1997; Gephart, 1997). Growing up in poverty may increase a person's risk of experiencing stressful life events and psychological distress (Bronfenbrenner, 1986, McLoyd, 1990), as well as reduce resources available to cope with stressors (Wandersman & Nation, 1998). However, Duncan, Brooks-Gunn, Yeung, & Smith (1998) have suggested that parental income during early childhood has the most influence later in the life of the child, particularly on achievement and attainment, despite the fact that children who grow up in poverty often move in and out of poverty later in life (Duncan & Rodgers, 1988; Hill, Wei-Jun, & Duncan, 2001). Similarly, researchers have found that living in an economically advantaged neighborhood is associated with higher scores on cognitive indicators for preschool and early school-age children (Klebanov, Brooks-Gunn, Chase-Lansdale, & Gordon, 1997). Thus, it is possible that abused and neglected children living in communities or neighborhoods that are economically advantaged (presumably with higher levels of resources) will be more likely to emerge as resilient compared to those reared in disadvantaged neighborhoods.

Another aspect of resilience that few researchers have examined is whether resilience is stable across different developmental periods (Heller et al., 1999, Kinard, 1998). Some research has focused on shifts in resilience from early childhood to school entry (Cicchetti & Rogosch, 1997; Egeland et al., 1993) and from school entry to adolescence (Herrenkohl et al., 1994), but little is known about whether shifts in resilience occur after adolescence and during adulthood. Shifts in contributing factors or predictors of resilience have also not undergone scrutiny.

This paper has four goals: (1) to examine individual and family factors in maltreated children that may facilitate better functioning (resilience) during adolescence and young adulthood; (2) to evaluate the role of neighborhood resources on resilience and to examine the interaction between individual and neighborhood resources; (3) to determine the extent to which there is stability or change in resilience from adolescence to young adulthood; and (4) to explore characteristics associated with the stability or change in resilience from adolescence to young adulthood. Our study is a prospective examination of predictors of resilience during late adolescence as well as in young adulthood, using a large sample of men and women, documented cases of physical and sexual abuse and neglect, and examination of contextual (neighborhood) factors.