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Resilience and protective factors among people with a history of child maltreatment: a systematic review

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Abstract

Purpose

To provide an overview of resilience and protective factors associated with a better life following child maltreatment exposure, to compare protective factors across specific subtypes of maltreatment, and to explore existing issues in the current state of the literature.

Methods

Electronic databases and grey literature up to October 2017 were systematically searched for English language with observational study designs for the research on resilience and childhood maltreatment. Systematic review and qualitative approaches were used to synthesize the results. Study quality and heterogeneity were also examined.

Results

Initial screening of titles and abstracts resulted in 247 papers being reviewed. A total of 85 articles met eligibility criteria of this review. Most of these studies had low or middle study quality. There were two subgroups of studies reviewed: (1) 11 studies examined whether resilience protected against the negative consequence of childhood maltreatment, and, (2) 75 studies explored what protective factor was associated with a kind of adaptive functioning. Although the conceptualization of resilience significantly varied from study to study, protective factors associated with resilience at individual, familial, and societal levels reduced the likelihood of negative consequences of childhood maltreatment. Negative consequences following childhood maltreatment can be prevented or moderated if protective factors are provided in time. Future research needs to address the conceptualization issue of resilience.

Conclusions

Public and population mental health preventions should focus on early childhood and apply preventive strategies as early as possible. Cost-effective studies should be considered in the evaluation of resilience prevention program.

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Funding

Dr. Meng received the start-up fund from Douglas Mental Health University Institute and a Scholar Award from the Fonds de recherche du Québec–Santé. This study was also supported by a Canadian Institute of Health Research Grant (PJT-148845).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, 6875 Boul. LaSalle, Montreal, QC, H4H 1R3, Canada

    Xiangfei Meng & Marie-Josee Fleury

  2. Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Xiangfei Meng & Marie-Josee Fleury

  3. Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Macau, Macao SAR, China

    Yu-Tao Xiang

  4. School of Public Health, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada

    Muzi Li & Carl D’Arcy

  5. Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada

    Carl D’Arcy

Authors
  1. Xiangfei Meng
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  2. Marie-Josee Fleury
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  3. Yu-Tao Xiang
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  4. Muzi Li
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Correspondence to Xiangfei Meng.

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The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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Meng, X., Fleury, MJ., Xiang, YT. et al. Resilience and protective factors among people with a history of child maltreatment: a systematic review. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 53, 453–475 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-018-1485-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-018-1485-2

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