انعطاف پذیری تروما در میان جوانان در نشان دادن مراقبت جایگزین مشکلات رفتار جنسی

Objective The purpose of this longitudinal study was to examine the relationship between several proposed protective factors and trauma symptoms among highly vulnerable youth in the child welfare system. Methods Participants were 142 youth identified with a sexual behavior problem and their caregivers. Two waves of data were collected for each participant an average of 18 months apart. Foster parents reported on perceived level of support from the child welfare agency, youth involvement in club activities, and perception of youths’ interpersonal and emotional competence. Youth provided self-reports of their sexual and physical abuse experiences, trauma symptoms at both time 1 and time 2, and ratings of parenting practices. Results Youth with higher rates of sexual abuse showed more negative affect and higher levels of sexual and non-sexual rumination at time 2, controlling for time 1 scores. Boys and youth who experienced better parenting practices displayed lower negative affect. Youth with higher levels of emotional and interpersonal competence showed lower levels of non-sexual rumination. Moderation analyses revealed that youth with more significant sexual abuse histories whose foster parents did not feel supported by their child welfare caseworkers had higher levels of sexually ruminative thoughts. Finally, the results revealed that only youth without sexual abuse histories experienced the benefits of club involvement in terms of lower sexual rumination scores. Conclusions This study demonstrated that youth with significant vulnerabilities can still exhibit a degree of protection from trauma symptomatology in the presence of a wide range of personal and social variables. These findings support the efforts of stakeholders to promote strengths at the level of the individual, family, and broader social network and community.

Resilience among youth has been defined as the “dynamic process encompassing positive adaptation within the context of significant adversity” (Luthar, Cicchetti, & Becker, 2000). Characteristics that precipitate resilience are known as protective factors (Luthar et al., 2000; Luthar & Zigler, 1991; Werner, 1989). The resilience literature has evolved to posit three interacting factors that affect adaptation to adversity among youth: (1) qualities of the individual (e.g., temperament, intelligence), (2) qualities of the youth's family (e.g., parenting practices), and (3) qualities of the youth's broader social environment (e.g., involvement in extra-curricular activities) (Heller, Larrieu, D’Imperio, & Boris, 1999; Luthar et al., 2000). The current study explores the effects of a range of possible protective factors across a sample of high-risk youth in the child welfare system (substitute care) who are beginning to demonstrate atypical, exploitative, and/or developmentally premature sexual behavior, known as sexual behavior problems (Ryan, 1997).

This study has three primary strengths. First, the design was longitudinal, allowing for the exploration of the association between changes over time in trauma symptoms and hypothesized protective factors. Second, this study controlled for the effects of early abuse and neglect and trauma scores at time one. Finally, this study used a mix youth self-report and foster parent self-report measures. In fact, the majority of hypothesized protective factors (club involvement, satisfaction with child welfare agency, and interpersonal/emotional competence) were derived from foster parent self-report while the dependent variables (trauma scales) and severity of sexual abuse were youth self-report. The use of multi-source data increases the rigor of a study by lessening the potential influence of response bias (Briere, 1992). Overall, this investigation adds to the literature in its study of a highly vulnerable population. It is encouraging to find that highly vulnerable youth can still be affected by such variables as positive parenting practices and the presence of a supportive child welfare agency. Emotional and interpersonal competence also exists in this population and may play a role in lessening future levels of trauma symptoms. Future research should use a more sophisticated research design to explore in greater detail the possible moderating role of extra-curricular activities, such as club involvement. This study further illustrates that protective factors can vary in their significance and effect across different types and levels of vulnerability.