“Some call it resilience’’: A profile of dynamic resilience-related factors in older adult survivors of childhood institutional adversity and maltreatment
Results of a scientific study on childhood adversity and maltreatment experienced in institutional settings and resilience-related factors; conducted within the scope of the National Research Programme 76 (NRP 76): “Welfare and Coercion – Past, Present and Future”.
This study was led by Dr. Shauna Rohner (formerly Mc Gee), under the direction of Principal Investigators PD Dr. Myriam V. Thoma and Prof. Dr. Dr. Andreas Maercker; in collaboration with Prof. Dr. Alan Carr, Clodagh Cogley, and other researchers.
Background
Up until the 1990’s in Ireland, many children were sent to institutional (welfare) care settings, such as reformatories, industrial schools, orphanages, Magdalene laundries, mother and baby homes, as well as illegal adoption or foster care. In these care settings many children experienced adversity and maltreatment, including physical, sexual, and emotional/psychological abuse, physical and emotional neglect, as well as a harsh regime and childhood labour. The institutional settings were also associated with an increased risk of victimization, stigma, and discrimination. These negative experiences can affect people’s physical and mental health into adulthood. However, not all people go on to develop ill-health, with some even showing good well-being in later life. Such positive health is often studied under the concept of ‘resilience’, which refers to the ability to adapt after adversity and maintain relatively stable levels of health and well-being. Resilience can be dynamic, in that people can be more or less resilient in different areas of their lives, and the level of resilience can change over time. Focus on this topic has grown with the emerging reports of institutional abuse and maltreatment in several international populations (for example: Ireland, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Austria, Canada, Australia). However, there is a lack of information on people’s health in later life and the possible influences on resilience, health, and well-being.
Aim of the Study
Informed by resilience theories, this study aimed to examine coping and resilience in people with past experiences of childhood institutional abuse and maltreatment.
Data Collection and Participants
People could take part in the study if they were 50 years or older and were in institutional care in Ireland during their childhood and/or adolescence. Interviews were conducted between August and December 2018 to gather information on the person’s experiences of childhood adversity and maltreatment, coping, resilience, and healthy ageing. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed into written text for analysis. A resilience questionnaire was also completed to allow for comparisons of resilience groups. Interviews were conducted with 17 adults and older adults, aged between 50-77 years (average age = 60.6 years), with 10 females and 7 males. Around half (47.1%) were placed in institutional care at birth or before the age of 1 year. Five people (29.4%) entered institutional care between the ages of 1.5 and 9 years old, with four people (23.5%) entering between the ages of 10 and 19 years. Time spent in institutional care varied from 7 months to 18 years, with an average stay of 10.2 years. Seven people (41.2%) had obtained a university certificate/diploma, and 4 people (23.5%) did not receive any formal education. Most people were employed or participated in volunteer work and some people were retired.
Findings
Key topics were identified for adversity and resilience. For ‘childhood adversity and maltreatment’ 3 main topics were identified: Abuse and neglect, Harsh regime, and Detrimental perceptions and interactions. For ‘related later-life adversity’ 3 main topics were also identified: Re-exposure and reminders, Failure of system and society, and Cycle of abuse. For ‘resilience influences’ 9 main topics were identified: Individual characteristics, Personality characteristics, Support systems, Goal attainment, Adaptive belief systems, Processing, Influential events and experiences, Recognition and collective identity, and Access to services. When applying resilience theory to these findings, the 9 resilience topics could be sorted into 3 overall resilience categories:
1. Built-in individual characteristics. This included gender differences in coping and emotion expression, as well as health behaviours that helped people to cope better, such as reduced alcohol intake or developing healthy sleeping habits.
2. Personality characteristics that can be developed over time. This included personality characteristics, such as strength of character or persistence, which helped people to endure through the adversity, become stronger, or to cope better. Support was also identified as important for coping and included sibling bonds during childhood and partners/spouses in later life. People also reported that their experiences placed them in a unique position to empathize with and help others in meaningful ways. They suggested that helping others is where they draw their resilience from, with some people even getting careers related to caring professions. Furthermore, to achieve life goals it was important to reclaim a sense of control, as well as the motivation to improve life circumstances for themselves, their children, and other survivors. Beliefs were also important for resilience, with many people reporting that they had lost their religious faith but instead considered themselves to be spiritual. Some people specifically differentiated between the religious institutional figures of their youth, their own religious faith (for example: praying to help them through tough times), and religious traditions (for example: going to church for a wedding, christening, or funeral). In addition, many cognitive and individualised strategies were used to process and cope with the adversity and maltreatment. These included perspective-taking, acknowledging the past, moving away from the institution area or Ireland, focusing on a connection to nature, and writing poetry about their experiences.
3. Influence of context and environment on the development of resilience. This included influential events and experiences that provided the person with a sense of meaning or a sense of connection, such as completing adult education, getting a good job, finding relatives, or having a family. Recognition as a survivor and the collective survivor identity were also important for some people, as the acknowledgement by society provided a sense of validation and understanding. Establishing an identity as a survivor could also influence a person’s sense of self and provide a feeling of belonging to a community. Access to services was also important for coping and resilience. This included formal support services, such as medical or psychological support (for example: the medical card), as well as state-funded adult education or job training. Informal support networks, such as survivor-led groups, were also often important for support and information, as well as for representing survivor issues.
For the resilience questionnaire, the following aspects were associated with average to high levels of resilience: strength of character helping to endure through the adversity, processing the adversity through perspective-taking, having the motivation to improve the life circumstances of others, having a high level of education, and using formal services to further education or career opportunities.
Conclusion
The 6 adversity-related topics (3 childhood adversity, 3 later-life adversity) can help provide a better understanding of the institutional adversity and maltreatment these people experienced, as well as the impact it had throughout their lives. In addition, 9 topics were identified as important for the coping and resilience of these individuals. These findings suggest that resilience may not only be a personality trait, but may also be a learnable set of behaviours, thoughts, and attitudes, which can be supported by events and experiences in a person’s environment (such as access to education and support services). This study has identified many areas through which resilience and coping strategies may be promoted. Gaining a better understanding of resilience in people with experiences of childhood institutional adversity and maltreatment can help researchers, clinicians, and policy-makers to develop more effective supportive measures for this population of survivors (for example: peer-counselling initiatives, campaigns to raise societal awareness/acceptance and reduce stigma). This research also highlights the need for better preventative actions to significantly improve welfare care for future generations.