NCJ Number
190016
Date Published
2001
Length
24 pages
Annotation
This chapter describes ways of defining and assessing resilience in children who are exposed to adult domestic assault, notes that little information currently exists regarding what factors influence how children in violent families cope with the violence and abuse around them, and presents findings of two studies on resilience.
Abstract
The analysis considers those children exposed to domestic violence who do not appear to demonstrate significant negative effects; these children are adaptable or seemingly resilient. The two studies did not specifically study resilience, but factors associated with good rather than poor adjustment could be explored for their potential as protective factors. Results revealed that resilience in some white children was associated with the mothers’ mental health in that the resilient children’s mothers did not experience moderate or severe depressive children. More positive functioning in black children was associated with mothers who had low levels of expression of hostile feelings toward their children and were able to maintain their competent parenting even if they were quite distressed. In additions, children’s resilience was more likely in families with low levels of verbal and psychological maltreatment between mothers and their partners and low levels of psychological maltreatment of children. Remaining issues included whether resilience was developmentally and culturally defined, whether resilience was general or specific to domains, and resilience over the life course. Future studies should expand the range of outcome variables now used in studying children exposed to domestic violence, use more diverse samples, try new methodologies, look for a range of risk and protective elements in the child’s live, and use more comprehensive models to test theories. 73 references