Poster #103 - Continuity and Discontinuity of Adjustment Profiles Among Urban Youth: Individual, Family, And Contextual Influences

• In Event: 3-159 - Poster Session 12
  In Poster Session: PS 12 Section - Health, Growth, Injury

Integrative Statement

Not all youth who experience adverse circumstances (e.g. poverty, exposure to violence, maltreatment) end up displaying expected unfavorable outcomes (e.g. academic failure, depression, drug dependence); in fact, some youth display “resilience,” broadly understood as adaptive functioning in the face of adversity (Luthar, Cicchetti, & Becker, 2000). Overall, research on resilience has offered a new approach to the study of at-risk populations, emphasizing the study of strengths, processes, and mechanisms among individuals and communities that may favor positive adaptation, rather than emphasizing deficits among those experiencing adversity (Schoon, 2012). Although resilience research has come a long way, there is still a dearth of prospective analyses examining the stability of resilience over time (O’Dougherty et al., 2015). The present study comprised secondary data analyses of survey data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN), a longitudinal survey study collected from local representative samples of adolescents, their parents, and interview staff residing in Chicago between 1996-2002 (Earls & Buka, 1997). The present study examined the existence of profiles of adjustment among 491 youth ages 9 to 16 (59% male; M=12.6 years; SD= 2.0 years; 44% Black, 34.6% Hispanic, 7% White and 14.4 % other) who had experienced significant exposure to community violence, and tested individual and contextual protective factors that differentiated these profiles. Profile continuity over 2 time points two years apart also was examined. Using internalizing and externalizing problems, self-efficacy, and health status as indicators, Latent Profile Analysis found four distinct profiles of adjustment in the presence of adversity at both time points (see Figure 1). Adolescents in group 1 scored around the mean in internalizing symptoms, externalizing problem behavior, and self efficacy, but they scored about 1SD below the mean in health. This group was labeled as "poor health." Adolescents in group 2 scored about 1SD above the mean in health, internalizing and externalizing domains but low in self efficacy. This group was labeled as "problem behavior." Adolescents in group 3 scored 1 SD above the mean in terms of internalizing and externalizing domains, and about 1SD below the mean in self efficacy and health. This group was labeled as "Multiple Problems." Lastly, adolescents in group 4 scored around the mean in all domains. This group was labeled as "holding steady." Protective factors at the individual (e.g. educational expectations, intelligence, engagement in constructive activities) and at the contextual (e.g. prosocial peers) levels proved relevant for profile classification (see Table 1 for examples of individual correlates predicting profile classification at time 1). Prospective analyses revealed both continuity and discontinuity in profile classification among youth in Chicago, with some youth remaining classified in the same group across time points (44 %), whereas others (56%) transitioned between groups. These results highlight the importance of studying resilience over time. Moreover, these results show that as youth negotiate developmental tasks within their ecologies, there is potential for both continuity and discontinuity in resilience processes. The results can inform prevention and intervention efforts aiming to work from a strengths-based approach.

Authors

• Alicia Borre, Hampton University
  Presenting Author

• Wendy Kliewer, Virginia Commonwealth University
  Non-Presenting Author