Social-Emotional Functioning and Child Maltreatment: A Person-Focused Analysis of Childhood, Adolescent, and Adulthood Indicators of Well-Being

Background and Purpose: Research shows that some children who are abused or neglected are resilient to the effects of these early forms of adversity (Masten, 2001). In addition, research has attempted to uncover the factors that characterize and predict patterns of resilience among maltreated children. However, studies are often limited by methodological and conceptual weaknesses and few have the capacity to examine pathways of resilience from childhood into adulthood. The current study focuses on patterns of positive functioning and resilience from child maltreatment using prospective data that spans a 30-year period.

Methods: Data are from the Lehigh Longitudinal Study, which consists of 457 individuals originally recruited from child welfare caseloads for abuse (N=144) and neglect (N=105). Children and families were also sampled from Headstart programs (N=70), daycare programs (N=64), and middle-income nursery programs (N=74) within the same two-county area.

Analyses focus on individuals who comprise the two child welfare groups of the sample (n=249). The goal was to investigate which of these 249 participants were functioning well at each developmental point. To identify children from child welfare who were high functioning (resilient) in childhood, we scaled three indicators of social-emotional functioning (positive temperament, social-emotional awareness and persistence) using a 25-50-25 division of scores. Those individuals in the top 25% of the sample across all three child indicators of social-emotional functioning were deemed resilient. In adolescence and adulthood, indicators of well-being consisted of depression, hopelessness, and empathy scores dichotomized to reflect high versus low functioning on those indicators.

Results: Of the 249 participants who comprise the two child welfare groups of the sample, only 13 met criteria for “high functioning” in the childhood period the study. Of these, 7 individuals were functioning well (across all indicators of depression, hopelessness, and empathy) in the adolescent wave of the study. In adulthood, the number of high functioning individuals from child welfare dropped to 6. And over all time points, just 3 individuals from the two child welfare groups met criteria for consistent high functioning. Although numbers are small, cases provide important insights regarding factors that promote and lessen psychosocial functioning and resilience over time. Case histories will be summarized in this presentation.

Conclusions and Implications: The current analysis extends investigations of continuity and discontinuity of social-emotional functioning across three developmental periods using a person-centered, case study method. Implications for social work research and practice will be discussed.