Promoting Resilient Academic Competence in Maltreated Children

Background: Although maltreated children are at heightened risk of developing academic and cognitive problems, research has indicated that there is significant variation in the outcomes of maltreated children meaning not all maltreated children display such problems. In fact, some children continue to thrive and achieve adaptive development despite early adverse life events. This study examined the extent to which protective factors promoted resilience in the development of academic competence for maltreated children.

Methods: Using data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW), academic competence latent class trajectories were estimated using cohort sequential latent growth mixture modeling (CS-GMM) for a sample of 1,766 children who were between 0-5 years at Time 1. Four waves of data over roughly 5 years were used. This analytical methodology allowed for estimation of diverse developmental patterns of academic competence between the birth to 10 years old. Academic competence was measured using language acquisition for children between birth and 3 years old and age-specific reading and math skills for children between 4-10 years old. Caregiver-reported maltreatment (physical abuse, neglect, psychological maltreatment) was measured during three time periods: infancy (birth to 2 years), preschool/play age (3 to 4 years) and school age (5 to 10 years). Protective factors included individual-level (attended preschool, prosocial skills), relationship-level (caregiver warmth, cognitive responsiveness, mental well-being) and neighborhood-level (neighborhood safety). Control variables included child gender and race/ethnicity, income below poverty level, and caregiver education. All maltreatment variables, protective factor variables, and control variables were entered into a multinomial logistic regression model to predict class membership of the academic competence trajectories.

Results: Two resilient groups (high stable; low but increasing overtime) and 3 non-resilient groups (low stable; high but decreasing overtime; and S-shape) were identified. Children who experienced physical abuse during the preschool age (3 to 4 years) or neglect during infancy (birth to 2 years) had higher odds of being in the low stable versus the high stable group. Children who were female, white, and who had a caregiver with a high school degree had lower odds being in the low stable group compared to the high stable group. However, caregiver warmth and caregiver cognitive responsiveness were identified as significant protective factors associated with higher stable and low increasing academic competence compared to the lower stable group.

Conclusions: Considering the diversity of outcomes for academic performance patterns, it is clear that not all maltreated children develop maladaptive outcomes, and that some children exhibit resilient behavior over time. Interpreted within Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological framework, the presence of distinct patterns of development may indicate that children’s behaviors are constantly influenced by multiple levels of risk and protective factors surrounding the children. Significant protective factors indicated that high levels of sensitive and stimulating parenting (e.g., appropriate cognitive/verbal responsiveness and warmth) was associated with positive cognitive outcomes. By examining outcomes longitudinally, the results suggest that such protective factors may have the potential to change the course of development despite early maltreatment experiences and promote resilience in these children.