Maureen Davey

Resilience Processes in Adolescents: Personality Profiles, Self-Worth, and Coping.

Trends in resilience research are shifting from identifying characteristics of children who are resilient in the face of adversity to identifying processes that promote resilience under normative conditions. The authors examined the potential for different associations of two correlates of resilience (self-worth and coping) with a third (personality dimensions). Specifically, the authors used cluster analysis to identify three discrete personality profiles using data from 181 11th-grade students (48% male, 78% White). Discriminant function analysis was then used to investigate the association of these three personality profiles with two variables that have characterized resilient youth: self-worth and coping. Consistent with prior research, the combination of being extroverted, agreeable, and open to new experiences was associated with high self-worth. Additionally, positive coping was also associated with compensatory mechanisms for adolescents who were high on disagreeableness and emotional instability. These findings suggest that there may be different compensatory mechanisms operating for adolescents with different personality profiles.

‘We are survivors too’: African-American youths' experiences of coping with parental breast cancer

Objective: To explore how African‐American youth cope with the diagnosis and treatment of parental breast cancer, and to identify culturally sensitive ways to recruit and sustain participation of this vulnerable population in intervention programs.

It Has Been a Good Growing Experience for Me: Growth Experiences Among African American Youth Coping With Parental Cancer

This qualitative focus group study describes posttraumatic growth experiences of African American adolescents currently coping with parental breast cancer. Twelve adolescents participated in three focus groups assessing their experiences with parental cancer. Spontaneous accounts of posttraumatic growth were reported by all participants. A content analysis revealed reports in four of the five domains of posttraumatic growth identified by Tedeschi and Calhoun (1996) which included: greater appreciation for life, enhanced interpersonal relationships, increased sense of personal strengths, and changed priorities. An additional domain, change in health behaviors and attitudes, also emerged. These findings add important knowledge to the developing field of research in posttraumatic growth in populations where available research is scarce, especially among adolescents and racial minorities.

It's a privilege to smile: impact of cleft lip palate on families.

In this article we describe prior cross-sectional and longitudinal research conducted with children who were born with cleft lip and/or palate and their families in the United States and internationally. The findings and clinical implications from different times and cultures are synthesized using the Biopsychosocial Model. Our primary aim is to summarize the attachment styles, cognitive, psychological and social functioning, self-concept, neurological functioning, and speech difficulties prevalent among individuals who are born with cleft lip/palate at different developmental stages (e.g., infancy, toddler, childhood, adolescence). Additionally, bystander reactions to the speech and appearance of individuals coping with cleft lip and/or palate and its effects on the family are described. Finally we examine the diversity of samples from prior clinical research and provide clinical recommendations for more collaborative family-based practice among medical and mental health providers treating families coping with cleft lip and/or palate.

A culturally adapted family intervention for African American families coping with parental cancer: Outcomes of a pilot study

The primary objective of this 2‐year pilot study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a culturally adapted family intervention in improving family communication among African American parents coping with cancer and their school‐age children. A secondary objective was to determine its impact on other symptoms of psychosocial distress (depression and anxiety). The third objective was to assess for acceptability and feasibility.

Childhood Sexual Abuse and Adult Sexual Identity Formation: Intersection of Gender, Race, and Sexual Orientation

There is a significantly higher rate of childhood sexual abuse among individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or queer. We describe how being a survivor of childhood sexual abuse can later affect adult sexual identity formation by examining it through the intersection of gender, race, and sexual orientation. Adult lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer abuse survivors may experience unique clinical challenges while healing from this type of traumatic experience and developing a healthy lesbian, gay, bisexual, or queer identity. We recommend a multicultural clinical approach for family therapists in order to best treat this vulnerable population.

Collaborative approaches to increasing family support for HIV positive youth.

Family therapists working in medical contexts often struggle to find a common language for communication with medical staff about the importance of family support. HIV positive youth are a group who have particular need for family support to help improve medication adherence, promote more open and positive communication, and decrease substance use and risk behaviors. In this paper, the authors retrospectively examined the levels of family support in a sample of 50 North American urban minority youth coping with HIV in an HIV/AIDs pediatric clinic from 2003 to 2007 at 2 time points (pre- and postdiagnosis) and began developing a clinician-rated family support tool. The authors highlight the use of a common clinician-rated family support tool for medical and mental health staff to discuss patients and their families. Results suggest that the family support youth were receiving fell between mixed and unsupportive levels both at pre- and postdiagnosis. Through the use of a case example the authors elaborate on how this family support tool aided in building a collaborative relationship with a focus on garnering family support for youth coping with the diagnosis of HIV.

“They Paid No Mind to My State of Mind”: African American Breast Cancer Patients’ Experiences of Cancer Care Delivery

This qualitative study describes experiences of cancer care delivery for nine African-American breast cancer patients. Three focus groups captured participants’ experiences with the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer and parenting their children. Spontaneous accounts describing their interactions with oncology staff were reported by all breast cancer patients. Content analysis revealed five themes: interaction with physicians, power and authority of physicians, collaboration between physicians and mental health professionals, navigating the system, and involvement of the family in the treatment process. These themes may help in developing culturally sensitive training programs for oncology providers to improve the quality of cancer care.

African American Parents’ Experiences Navigating Breast Cancer While Caring for Their Children

African American parents who are navigating breast cancer while parenting their school-age children are an understudied population. We used family systems and sociocultural theories to conduct three focus groups with a total sample of 9 African American parents to understand how they cared for their school-age children (ages 11 to 18) while coping with the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. Our content analysis of these focus groups yielded themes that described a variety of ways they protected their children from the emotional consequences of breast cancer. Seven primary themes emerged: (a) increased desire to protect their children, (b) parental concerns for children’s coping, (c) openness and transparency with children, (d) reliance on children for support, (e) calibration of their own responses, (f) use of the illness experience as a teachable moment for children, and (g) reliance on others for parenting support. Clinicians and researchers can improve their care by developing culturally sensitive family intervention programs that promote family resilience.

Ethnic Identity in an American White Minority Group

To examine ethnic identity as a predictor of adolescent self-competence and possible differences in ethnic identity according to age in an American White minority ethnic group, we surveyed 63 Jewish teenagers (ages 11-18) living in a Jewish nondominant neighborhood context in a large southeastern metropolitan area in the United States. Participants completed measures of ethnic identity, self-competence, demographic variables, and peer and family relationships. Results indicate that the older Jewish teenagers (15 and older) have a weaker ethnic identification than the younger Jewish teenagers (14 and under). At all ages, teenagers with stronger ethnic identification reported greater scholastic self-competence. Additionally, family or peer variables predicted 4 of the 5 dimensions of self-competence examined (social acceptance, physical appearance, close friendship, and self-worth), suggesting the importance of other influences on self-competence like the quality of family and peer relationships.