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Although abuse and neglect in the early years of life have been reliably linked to poor mental health outcomes in childhood, only a few studies have examined whether the predictive significance of childhood abuse and neglect endures for symptoms of psychopathology into adulthood. Here we examined to what extent prospectively assessed child abuse and neglect is associated with self-reported symptoms of psychopathology measured from ages 23 through 39 years, controlling for early demographic covariates and self-reported symptoms of psychopathology measured at age 16 years. The sample included 140 participants from the Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk and Adaptation. Participants were 49% female and 69% White/non-Hispanic. At the time of their child's birth, 48% of the mothers were teenagers (M = 20.5 years, SD = 3.74), 65% were single, and 42% had completed less than a high school education. Results indicated that childhood abuse and neglect was robustly associated with symptoms of psychopathology in adulthood. Exploratory analyses focusing on specific parametrizations of abuse/neglect suggested that abuse perpetrated by maternal figures (rather than paternal or nonparental figures) was uniquely associated with high levels of self-reported symptoms of psychopathology in adulthood. We found no evidence that any subtype of abuse and/or neglect or abuse/neglect during any particular phase of development uniquely predicted symptoms of psychopathology after controlling for relevant covariates. These results highlight the long-lasting significance of childhood abuse and neglect for reports of mental health in adulthood.

Camp-based reunification is a developmentally informed approach to strengthen the relationships of siblings in out-of-home care. Little is known about the collective impact of these programs, or if there is a benefit to multiple camp experiences. To address this, data were collected from 2,260 youth who were campers at one of 16 sibling reunification programs in the U.S. or Australia between 2013-2019. Increases in resilience, decreases in sibling support, and decreases in sibling conflict were observed among first-time campers. For repeat campers, changes to resilience were greatest during youths' first year of camp. Recommendations for research and practice are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the United Kingdom, Section 27 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act permits 'Achieving Best Evidence' (ABE) forensic interviews to replace the evidence-in-chief in cases involving children. It is therefore imperative that forensic interviewers elicit complete, reliable, and coherent narratives from children. The goal of the current research study was to assess the coherence of forensic interviews and whether the interviewers' emotional or cognitive support was associated with increases in the coherence of these interviews. Children's narrative coherence was examined in 80 transcripts of ABE investigative interviews with 7- to-15-year-olds who disclosed sexual abuse. Narrative coherence was assessed using the Narrative Coherence Coding Scheme, including three dimensions of narrative coherence: chronology, consistency, and theme (Reese, E., Haden, C. A., Baker-Ward, L., Bauer, P., Fivush, R., & Ornstein, P. A. (2011). Coherence of personal narratives across the lifespan: A multidimensional model and coding method. Journal of Cognition and Development, 12(4), 424–462. https://doi.org/10.1080/15248372.2011.587854). Findings revealed that first elicited events were more likely to be more coherent compared to subsequently elicited events, and child engagement was positively associated with all dimensions of narrative coherence. Interviewer support was positively associated with chronology, script accounts of abuse were associated with decreased consistency and chronology (but not theme), and cognitive support was not associated with any dimension of narrative coherence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individuals who face significant adversity are typically able to resume normal functioning despite this hardship. Resilience is a dynamic process at any level of functioning that encompasses the capacity by which these individuals adapt positively following adversity. Resilience science aims to elucidate the mechanisms of successful adaption following adverse situations, allowing researchers to better understand why some individuals adapt better than others. In the present chapter we synthesize literature on biologic systems and their resilient functioning, including neurobiologic, hormonal, and genetic aspects of resilience. Utilizing a developmental psychopathology approach, we emphasize the importance of taking an integrative, multiple systems perspective when examining resilient functioning by incorporating biologic and psychosocial systems and the necessity for collaboration among researchers from a variety of disciplines. Finally, we discuss the application of resilience science and how these results can be integrated into intervention efforts aimed to promote resilient functioning in individuals., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)