Maltreatment, Risk and Resilience: The Role of Thinking Positively Versus Negatively about the Future during Adolescence

Instruction

Adolescents who experienced child maltreatment are at significant risk for psychopathology and adjustment problems, yet many youth pursue positive outcomes following the process of resilience. Research suggests that youth’s ability to plan ahead facilitates coping skills in the face of hardship and is linked with adaptive developmental outcomes (Seginer, 2008). Future orientation (FO) refers to general expectations about the future, and is a multi-dimensional construct that includes positive and negative thoughts. The present study conducts an investigation into the construct of FO in order to elucidate the influence of negative versus positive thoughts in the connection between types of child maltreatment and risk versus resilience.

Methods & Procedures

Data were obtained from a subsample of youth from the LONGSCAN consortium of studies. The sample of 1,117 youth and their primary caretakers were assessed in four waves of data collection (Wave 1: M_age = 12.22, SD_age = .51; Wave 2: M_age = 14.32, SD_age = .43; Wave 3: M_age = 16.21, SD_age = .59; Wave 4: M_age = 18.31, SD_age = .62). Maltreatment was based on child protective services and coded according to the Modified Maltreatment Classification System (English & Investigators, 1997). FO was examined across the first two time points. An exploratory factor analysis followed by confirmatory factor analyses supported a two-factor model of FO (positive & negatively framed). Example positive and negative items include,
“I will attend college in the future” and “I will get a divorce in the future”, respectively. Externalizing, internalizing, and social competence outcomes were measured via the Child Behavior Checklist at Wave 3, and self-esteem was assessed at Wave 4.

Results

Path analyses were conducted in a structural equation modeling framework using M-plus 7.4 (Muthen and Muthen, 2015). A parallel mediation analysis was tested with positive and negative FO dimensions as competitive mediators. Indirect effects were tested using bootstrapping (10,000 resampling cycles) of the product coefficients. Results supported significant indirect effects through the positive FO dimension between child sexual abuse (CSA) and internalizing problems (β = .08*, 95%CI [.15, 2.28]), externalizing problems (β = .07*, 95%CI [.23, 2.94]), and self-esteem (β = -.06*, 95%CI [-1.09, -.11]), and between neglect and internalizing problems (β = .11*, 95%CI [.10, .78]), externalizing problems (β = .10*, 95%CI [.13, 1.04]) and self-esteem (β = -.08*, 95%CI [-.40, -.16]). The indirect effects through the negative FO dimension were not significant (p > .05).

Conclusion

Findings suggest that, compared to the negative FO dimension, the positive FO dimension was more strongly affected by CSA and neglect, and more strongly predicted externalizing, internalizing and social competence outcomes. The study generates important information about the role of FO in the development of psychopathology and resilience post child maltreatment. The study informs preventive interventions by identifying the development of agentic capacities during adolescence that enable youth to make decisions that are informed by positively framed long-term goals (Lerner, 2006).