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Full-Text Articles in Psychology

Supportive Relationships As Protective For Children Exposed To Violence: Exploring Underlying Mechanisms, Jessica Houston Jul 2016

Supportive Relationships As Protective For Children Exposed To Violence: Exploring Underlying Mechanisms, Jessica Houston

Dissertations (1934 -)

The present study examined supportive relationships with parents, teachers, peers, and neighbors as protective for youths exposed to violence. To explore how support promotes resilience, four potential mediators were examined: secure attachment, adaptive coping, processing traumatic experiences with a supportive person (parent, teacher, friend, or community adult), and an optimistic outlook on life. An at-risk sample of 107 students (71% male) aged 8-19 years (M=15) who were predominantly African American completed measures of violence exposure, social support, attachment security, coping ability, trauma-processing, and optimism. Resilience was assessed with multiple measures that included self-esteem, competence in several domains (social, scholastic, athletic, …


Urban Congolese Refugees In Kenya: The Contingencies Of Coping And Resilience In A Context Marked By Structural Vulnerability, Julie A. Tippens Jan 2016

Urban Congolese Refugees In Kenya: The Contingencies Of Coping And Resilience In A Context Marked By Structural Vulnerability, Julie A. Tippens

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

The global increase in refugee migration to urban areas creates challenges pertaining to the promotion of refugee health, broadly conceived. Despite considerable attention to trauma and forced migration, there is relatively little focus on how refugees cope with stressful situations, and on the determinants that facilitate and undermine resilience. This article examines how urban Congolese refugees in Kenya promote psychosocial well-being in the context of structural vulnerability. This article is based on interviews (N = 55) and ethnographic participant observation with Congolese refugees over a period of 8 months in Nairobi in 2014. Primary stressors related to scarcity of material …