Date of Award

5-2016

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Department

Graduate Department of Clinical Psychology

First Advisor

Dr. Mary Peterson

Second Advisor

Dr. Marie-Christine Goodworth

Third Advisor

Dr. Elizabeth Hamilton

Abstract

Resilience is defined as the ability to respond adaptively and maintain a high quality of life even after adversity or trauma. Research conducted in Western cultures has identified multiple factors that correlate with resilience for survivors of childhood trauma, including social support, the presence of a stable adult, internal locus of control, supportive spiritual beliefs and lack of self-blame regarding the trauma (Crenshaw, 2013; Brooks & Goldstein, 2004; Goldstein, Brooks, & Devries, 2013). This study explored whether the factors that previous research has identified as predictive of resilience have a similar predictive value when applied to another culture. This research found that the presence of a stable adult, social support, supportive spiritual beliefs and a minimal amount of self-blame all correlated with resilience in the examined population of adolescent Bolivian street girls. However, no correlation was found between internal locus of control and resilience among this population. Implications of these findings and suggestions for further research are discussed.

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