Poster #53 - Cumulative risk and promotive factors and externalizing problems among adolescents living in an armed conflict zone

• In Event: 3-159 - Poster Session 12
  In Poster Session: PS 12 Section - Developmental Psychopathology

Integrative Statement

After exposure to adversity or traumatic events, individuals may manifest distress responses or psychological problems. The severity and duration of these responses depend on several factors. Among them, risk factors are associated with higher level of psychological symptoms, while promotive factors are linked to the individuals’ capacity of recovery or resilience. Resiliency theory provides a conceptual framework for studying how individuals overcome the negative outcomes after exposure to risk and for understanding the relation between risk and promotive factors in this process (Fergus & Zimmerman, 2006). Indeed, promotive factors may directly counteract and compensate for exposure to risk factors (i.e., compensatory model). Alternatively, promotive factors may interact with risk factors to moderate the negative outcomes (i.e., risk-protective model). The current study examines the association between the cumulative risk and promotive factors and externalizing problems among early adolescents living in the armed conflict zone and tests the compensatory and risk-protective models of resiliency in this sample. Data was collected between June and October 2016 in three eastern cities of Turkey where fierce battles and long curfews took place between June 2015 and April 2016. The sample included 215 adolescents (122 girls) aged 11 to 15 years (M = 12.92, SD = 1.52) and their primary caregivers. Cumulative measures of risk and promotive factors included individual/behavioral characteristics and parental/familial influences. The risk factors consisted of adolescents’ armed conflict experience level, conflict-unrelated stressful experience level, physical, emotional and economic abuse and neglect experiences, poverty, and primary caregivers’ distress level. The promotive factors included adolescents’ positive qualities (e.g., prosocial behavior), social competence level, school success, and perceived support in family. The cumulative risk and promotive factor indices were calculated by using similar procedures with other researchers (e.g., Stoddard et al., 2013) as summing the standardized scores of the corresponding factors. A four-step hierarchical multiple regression analysis was conducted to examine the cumulative risk and promotive factors predicting the externalizing problems among adolescents. The first step included demographic variables (i.e., age, sex, parental education), followed by the cumulative risk factor index in the second step, the cumulative promotive factor index in the third step (i.e., testing for the compensatory model), and the interaction of risk and promotive factor indices in the final step (i.e., testing for the risk-protective model). Results showed that after controlling for demographics, higher level of cumulative risk was associated with higher level of externalizing problems among adolescents. The cumulative promotive factors showed compensatory effect on externalizing problems among adolescents exposed to risk factors: Higher level of cumulative promotive factors was associated with lower level of externalizing problems. The interaction between the cumulative risk and promotive factor indices was not significant. Our findings supported the compensatory model of resiliency: Promotive factors directly reduced the negative effect of exposure to risk. These findings can be used in the formulation of prevention and intervention programs targeting multiple assets and resources to build resilience among adolescents living in an armed conflict zone.

Authors

• Buket Kara, Koç University
  Presenting Author

• Bilge Yagmurlu, Koc University
  Non-Presenting Author