Studies of the impact of abuse or neglect on children have focused largely on maltreated infants, toddlers, or preschool children and on single subsystems of development. In the study described in this article, 139 school-age and adolescent children who had been physically abused, who had been neglected, and who had no prior history of maltreatment participated in a multimodal, multisource assessment. The authors used parent and child interviews, teacher ratings, and data from school records to comprehensively assess older maltreated children's school performance; social and emotional development in school, at home, in the community, and with peers; and adaptive behavior in areas such as motor skills, personal care skills, and community orientation. With the effects of socioeconomic status covaried out, results showed that the abused children displayed pervasive and severe academic and socioemotional problems. Neglected children differed little from children who were neither abused nor neglected on measures of socioemotional development, but they displayed severe academic delays. Both groups of maltreated children showed unexpected strengths on measures of adaptive behavior.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Abstract:This exploratory study presents findings on resiliency development in five former runaway and homeless youth. Subjected to chronic trauma, this unique population lacked the protective factors other studies have associated with resiliency development. Five young women were compared and contrasted in relation to the following questions: what factors promote resiliency in runaway and homeless youth and how are resilient youth differentiated from their peers who continue to exhibit high risk behaviours? A multiple case study design was used to explore themes that emerged from in-depth interviews with an original sample of 22 former runaway and homeless youth. These themes included determination, meaning and purpose in life, self-care and readiness to accept help.