Friday, 14 January 2005 - 2:00 PM

This presentation is part of: Adolescent Mental Health

Resilience in Sexually Abused Adolescent Girls in Foster Care

Introduction: Adolescent girls in foster care with histories of childhood sexual abuse can more often than expected demonstrate resiliency, despite extremely negative life circumstances. In this sample of sexually abused adolescent girls in foster care, one in four were functioning well, despite having experienced moderate-to-severe emotional, physical, and sexual abuse.

Purpose: To examine the differences between resilient sexually abused adolescent girls in foster care with sexually abused adolescent girls in foster care that use substances and experience clinically significant mental health problems (non-resilient). It was hypothesized that the resilient girls would differ from the non-resilient girls on several protective factors: education, future orientation, family support, peer influence, and religious involvement.

Methods: Data were gathered during a baseline assessment of a longitudinal, experimental study designed to evaluate an HIV prevention and life skills program. Trained master’s level social work graduate students conducted individual structured interviews that lasted approximately one hour and included the use of several standardized instruments. The study participants included 351 youth in foster care, aged 15 to 18 years, of which 54% (n=190) were female. Over half of the girls (54%; n=102) indicated that they had experienced some form of sexual abuse, and these girls constituted the sample for this resiliency study. Missing data reduced the sample to 99 girls who on average were 16 years old, 58% of which were youths of color. Twenty-five girls reported no use of substances in the previous six months or clinically significant mental health sympotomatology, as measured by the Youth Self Report of the Child Behavior Checklist, whereas the other 74 girls had used substances during that time and had borderline or clinically significant scores on the Youth Self Report Scale. No significant differences were found between the two groups in terms of age, race, living situation, length of time in their living situation, changes in placements or in type or severity of childhood maltreatment. Chi-Squares and t-tests were computed to test the hypotheses.

Results: As hypothesized education and future orientation both emerged as strong protective factors for resilient girls. They got along better with others at school (t=3.6; p<.001), had a stronger sense of belonging at school(t=-2.12, p=.04), were more certain of their educational plans(Chi Square=7.41, p=.006), and were more optimistic about their future(t=-2.23; p=.03). Although there were no differences between the two groups on positive peer influence, the resilient girls had peers that were less likely to engage in negative behaviors (t=4.05; p<.001). There were no differences between the two groups on family support or religious involvement.

Implications: Every effort must be made to support the educational aspirations and potential of sexually abused adolescent girls in foster care. Care must also be given to avoid making erroneous assumptions about the mental health status of sexually abused girls in foster care, who are often viewed as too psychologically distressed to be placed in a family foster home situation, which can limit the type of peers with whom they have access, thereby potentially making it harder to find positive peer groups.

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