Overcoming the Past: Protective Factors and Resiliency in Childhood Maltreatment Survivors

• In Event: Intergenerational Criminology, Panel 2. Family and Intergenerational Perspectives II

Abstract

Childhood maltreatment literature would predict that childhood trauma victims are at greater risk of engaging in criminal behavior throughout adolescence and adulthood. Through the lens of social bonds theory, childhood maltreatment results in damaged or underdeveloped social ties early in life, causing impaired ability to refrain from criminal or antisocial behavior. However, there are childhood maltreatment survivors within the Asian American community who become resilient, productive members of society. This is a qualitative study exploring the protective factors and turning points throughout the life course to understand how social bonds were broken and rebuilt to promote resilience to antisocial and criminal behavior.

Author

• Samantha An Manuel, The University of Texas at Dallas