Multidimensional Resilience in Urban Children Exposed to Community Violence

Abstract

The extent to which parent, school, and peer support differentially affected multiple domains of resilience was examined among 2,600 sixth, eighth, and tenth graders from an urban public school system who took part in a comprehensive survey of high-risk and adaptive behaviors. Structural equation modeling was used to specify the relation among seven domains of resilience and parent, school, and peer support among children who had been victimized by community violence, those who had witnessed such violence, and a no-exposure control group. Results upheld the validity of a multidimensional conceptualization of childhood resilience, and indicated that although both parent and school support factors were significantly positively associated with resilience in children who had been exposed to community violence, peer support was negatively associated with resilience in the domains of substance abuse and school misconduct/ delinquency. These results were most robust among victimized children, followed by children who had witnessed violence. Implications for social policy and community violence research are discussed.

Victimización, resiliencia y salud mental de estudiantes de universidad en Tamaulipas, México

“…Estudios previos han señalado la importancia de los recursos en términos de apoyo social y familiar (O'Donnell et al, 2002) y las fortalezas individuales de tipo regulatorio o interpersonal (Grych & Hamby, 2015) para reducir el impacto de la violencia comunitaria. No obstante, en el presente estudio encontramos relaciones negativas más altas entre las fortalezas personales (confianza en sí mismo, competencia social y estructura) y la sintomatología psicológica, en comparación con los recursos brindados por las redes de apoyo familiar y social.…”

“…Asimismo, hallamos que la resiliencia puede moderar la relación entre la victimización directa e indirecta con la presencia de sintomatología psicológica, y que niveles altos de resiliencia limitan esta relación, tal como lo han señalado autores previos (Grych & Hamby, 2015;Luthar & Goldstein, 2004;O'Donnell et al, 2002).…”

“…Dicho proceso está abierto al cambio, pues la persona puede ser resiliente en un punto de tiempo y no en otro, además de que puede mostrar una adaptación en ciertos dominios o indicadores, pero no en otros (O'Donnell, Schwab-Stone, & Muyeed, 2002). La resiliencia no implica invulnerabilidad, pues la competencia conductual puede coexistir con la presencia de malestar psicológico (Howard, 1996).…”

“…Ante la exposición crónica a la violencia comunitaria, la resiliencia puede favorecerse por recursos personales como las estrategias de afrontamiento (Rosario et al, 2008) o la espiritualidad (Jones, 2007), fortalezas familiares en términos de funcionamiento (Luthar & Goldstein, 2004), el contar con redes de apoyo en la escuela y la comunidad (O'Donnell et al, 2002) Sin embargo, las estrategias de afrontamiento, el apoyo social y el funcionamiento familiar tienen un nivel limitado de protección cuando existe una alta exposición a violencia comunitaria (Luthar & Goldstein, 2004;Rosario et al, 2008).…”

Improving Outcomes for Children Exposed to Violence: Safe Start Promising Approaches

“…Future exploration of services at this level might try to pin down the necessary ingredients for these less intensive, community-based approaches aimed at relatively healthy families and children. These children and families might already be on the path to recovery, bolstered by their individual or family protective factors that have helped them be resilient in the face of adversity (Gewirtz and Edleson, 2007;O'Donnell, Schwab-Stone, and Muyeed, 2002). Possible future directions include such approaches as taking a watch-andwait tack to support families as they adjust and recover from violence exposure, and then providing or referring to specific high-quality services as specific needs are uncovered.…”