Valdez Christine E, Lim Ban Hong Phylice, Parker Christopher P
Northern Illinois University, USA.
Child Abuse Negl. 2015 Oct;48:80-91. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2015.07.007. Epub 2015 Jul 22.
Many foster youth experience maltreatment in their family-of-origin and additional maltreatment while in foster care. Not surprisingly, rates of depression are higher in foster youth than the general population, and peak during ages 17-19 during the stressful transition into adulthood. However, no known studies have reported on whether foster youth perceive positive changes following such adversity, and whether positive change facilitates psychological adjustment over time. The current study examined components of positive change (i.e., compassion for others and self-efficacy) with depression severity from age 17 to 18 as youth prepared to exit foster care. Participants were youth from the Mental Health Service Use of Youth Leaving Foster Care study who endorsed child maltreatment. Components of positive change and severity of abuse were measured initially. Depression was measured initially and every three months over the following year. Latent growth curve modeling was used to examine the course of depression as a function of initial levels of positive change and severity of abuse. Results revealed that decreases in depression followed an inverse quadratic function in which the steepest declines occurred in the first three months and leveled off after that. Severity of abuse was positively correlated with higher initial levels of depression and negatively correlated with decreases in depression. Greater self-efficacy was negatively associated with initial levels of depression and predicted decreases in depression over the year, whereas compassion for others was neither associated with initial depression nor changes in depression. Implications for intervention, theory, and research are discussed.
许多寄养青年在原生家庭中遭受虐待，在寄养期间还会遭受额外的虐待。毫不奇怪，寄养青年的抑郁症发病率高于普通人群，且在17至19岁压力重重的成年过渡阶段达到峰值。然而，尚无已知研究报告寄养青年在经历此类逆境后是否察觉到积极变化，以及积极变化是否会随着时间的推移促进心理调适。本研究在寄养青年准备离开寄养机构时，考察了17至18岁期间积极变化的组成部分（即对他人的同情心和自我效能感）与抑郁严重程度之间的关系。参与者是来自“离开寄养机构青年的心理健康服务使用情况”研究的寄养青年，他们认可曾遭受儿童虐待。研究最初测量了积极变化的组成部分和虐待的严重程度。最初以及在接下来的一年中每三个月测量一次抑郁情况。使用潜在增长曲线模型来考察抑郁过程与积极变化初始水平和虐待严重程度之间的函数关系。结果显示，抑郁程度的下降呈倒二次函数关系，即最急剧的下降发生在最初三个月，之后趋于平稳。虐待的严重程度与抑郁的较高初始水平呈正相关，与抑郁程度的下降呈负相关。更高的自我效能感与抑郁的初始水平呈负相关，并预测了一年中抑郁程度的下降，而对他人的同情心既与初始抑郁无关，也与抑郁的变化无关。本文讨论了对干预、理论和研究的启示。
