Researchers looked at the influence of community factors such as education for children to successfully adapt if they were maltreated before the age of five.
Using parental survey data revealing emotional or physical maltreatment of children from Bristol’s Children of the 90s longitudinal study they were able to assess how the children had good health and educational achievements despite their disadvantaged start in life.
They found that factors such as taking part in after school clubs, being happy with school and not being bullied contributed towards good exam grades and general wellbeing as well as having strong communication and social skills.
Overall, the report found evidence that good communication skills, enjoyment of school and extracurricular activities were important factors for children experiencing emotional maltreatment benefiting both emotional health and educational achievements.
School environment is the most important area for policy to focus on, where there are multiple opportunities to improve both academic achievement and emotional health. For example, school-based strategies include zero-tolerance to bullying policies with a clear protocol for reporting abuse, more formal pastoral positions developed for teachers, and increased after-school programs and extracurricular activities.
Amongst professionals who care for children in schools, the results highlight that an increased awareness of protective individual traits, including communication skills and cognitive ability, is important.
Main Findings:
- School related factors, including engagement in extracurricular activities, satisfaction with school and not being bullied were the most important in facilitating resilience in educational attainment, self-esteem and wellbeing.
- Protective effects of school went beyond academic achievement and included nurturing adolescents’ wellbeing and self-esteem.
- Good communication and social skills was the most protective individual trait. It was the only individual trait associated with resilience in both educational attainment and emotional health.
- Children with better social communication may be more successful in finding non-aggressive solutions to problems in school and at forming trusting relationships, thereby enhancing their supportive network.
- There was insufficient evidence to suggest that family factors were associated with resilience to maltreatment.
- School-based interventions are recommended to promote positive adaptation following parental maltreatment.
- Future research should evaluate outcomes across the life-course to understand whether the protective influences of school persist into adulthood.
- Encouragingly, many of the identified factors are not unique to maltreated children, suggesting that factors promoting resilient outcomes in adolescence are universal.
- Interventions based within the school setting that seek to promote wellbeing and self-esteem among all children, appear most justified.
- Future work is necessary to understand how exposure to maltreatment interacts with protective factors over time and impacts on resilience across the life-course.