Resilience as outcomes (domains) and processes (pathways, mechanisms)

1. Christine Wekerle, Ph.D. (Clinical Psychology)
Associate Professor, Pediatrics, McMaster University
(chris.wekerle@gmail.com)
Resilience as outcomes (domains) and
processes (pathways, mechanisms)
Research Focus: Adolescents (age 14+) who are involved
in the child welfare system; Maltreatment and
Adolescent Pathways (MAP) Project (MAPS: MAP study)
Clinical focus: Violence and impairment prevention
Youth Relationships Project (YRP; dating violence
prevention, dating health promotion program; Manual –
Wolfe et al, 1997; Evaluation – Wolfe et al,1997)
Populations of interest: Maltreated children, adolescents,
and adults; homeless youth; Aboriginal adolescent
health

2. Christine Wekerle, Ph.D. (Clinical Psychology)
Associate Professor, Pediatrics, McMaster University
(chris.wekerle@gmail.com)
Representative Recent Publications:
– Wekerle et al., 2009. Impact of childhood emotional
maltreatment on teen dating violence. Child Abuse
and Neglect: The International Journal
– Wekerle et al., 2009. Up Against the Wall report.
(distributed by family violence clearinghouse)
– Wekerle et al., 2009. Chapter 6: Children and youth
served by Ontario’s CAS in Looking to the Future: A
Profile of Ontario’s Children and Youth.
(for a copy email kathy.glazier@ontario.ca)
MAPS Research specific to Resilience
• Individual factors; child welfare system factors to look at
person-environment interactions

3. Christine Wekerle, Ph.D. (Clinical Psychology)
Associate Professor, Pediatrics, McMaster University
(chris.wekerle@gmail.com)
Conceptualizing Resilience
• Why do some maltreated persons adjust and recover (i.e.,
innate human self-righting tendency) and others do not?
Resilience is a trait, skill, process of individual interacting with
environment (multiple contexts, systems)
• Individual-level – Adaptation to environment; coping with
adversity; returning to baseline (pre-morbid) functioning;
achieving at potential; non-problem/non-clinical performance in
domains; developmentally-appropriate behaviours; in tact
basic functioning (physical, emotional-behavioural regulation)
– Sense of Mastery: optimism, self-efficacy, adaptability
– Sense of Relatedness: trust, support, comfort, tolerance
– Emotional Reactivity: sensitivity, recovery, impairment

4. Christine Wekerle, Ph.D. (Clinical Psychology)
Associate Professor, Pediatrics, McMaster University
(chris.wekerle@gmail.com)
Individual-level - Measurement Scales
• Child and Youth Resilience Measure (CYRM, Ungar
et al., 2008)
• Resiliency Scales for Children and Adolescents
(RSCA, 2006, Prince-Embury, available from
www.psychcorp.ca)

5. Christine Wekerle, Ph.D. (Clinical Psychology)
Associate Professor, Pediatrics, McMaster University
(chris.wekerle@gmail.com)
Resilience as Trait, State, Outcome, Process
The way internal resources are matched with external
resources: navigation, negotiation,
availability/accessibility/use of resources, and luck?
System – level:
• Children’s Aid Society (CAS) System Involvement
Social-level:
• Socioeconomic status of family and adolescent
• Perception of living environment and school safety
• School bullying experiences
• Dating violence experiences

6. Christine Wekerle, Ph.D. (Clinical Psychology)
Associate Professor, Pediatrics, McMaster University
(chris.wekerle@gmail.com)
Resilience-related results:

7. Christine Wekerle, Ph.D. (Clinical Psychology)
Associate Professor, Pediatrics, McMaster University
(chris.wekerle@gmail.com)
Summary of Resilience-Related References
Aboriginal youth:
Zahradnik, M. et al., 2009. Knowledge translation in a community-based study of
the relations among violence exposure, post-traumatic stress, and alcohol
misuse in Mi’kmaq youth. First Peoples Child and Family Review, 4, 106-107.
Available on-line @ www.fncfcs.com.
Resilience Concept:
Ungar, M. et al. (2007). Unique pathways to resilience across cultures.
Adolescence, 42, 287-310.
Resilience Measurement (Individual-level):
Ungar, M. et al. (2008). The study of youth resilience across cultures: lessons from
a pilot study of measurement development. Research in Human Development,
5, 166-180.
Prince-Embury, S. (2006). Resilience scales for children and adolescents..
www.psychcorp.ca

8. Christine Wekerle, Ph.D. (Clinical Psychology)
Associate Professor, Pediatrics, McMaster University
(chris.wekerle@gmail.com)
References for diagram:
(1) Mohapatra, S., Irving, H., Paglia-Boak, A., Wekerle, C., Adlaf, E., & Rehm, J. (2009).
History of family involvement with child protective services as a risk factor for bullying
in Ontario schools. Journal of Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.
Available online: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/123227924/abstract
(2) Wekerle, C., Leung, E., MacMillan, H.L., Boyle, M., Trocmé, N., & Waechter, R.
(2009). The contribution of childhood emotional abuse to teen dating violence among
child protective services-involved youth. Journal of Child Abuse & Neglect, 33, 45-58.
(3) Goldstein, A., Leslie, B., Wekerle, C., Leung, E., & Erickson, P. (under review). A
comparison of young women Involved with child welfare and those utilizing street
youth services: Implications for the transition from care. Journal of Sociology and
Social Welfare.
(4) Wekerle, C., Leung, E., Goldstein, A., Thornton, T., & Tonmyr, L. (2009). Up against a
wall: Coping with becoming a teen. (Substance use among adolescents in child
welfare versus adolescents in the general population: A comparison of the
Maltreatment and Adolescent Pathways (MAP) longitudinal study and the Ontario
Student Drug Use Survey (OSDUS) datasets). London, ON: University of Western
Ontario.

9. Christine Wekerle, Ph.D. (Clinical Psychology)
Associate Professor, Pediatrics, McMaster University
(chris.wekerle@gmail.com)
Other References:
(1) Wekerle, C., Waechter, R., Leung, E., & Chen, M. (2009). Chapter 6: Children and
youth served by Ontario’s Children’s Aid Societies. In Profile of Ontario’s Children and
Youth, Ontario Ministry of Children & Youth Services Internal Policy Document
(2) Waechter, R. L., Wekerle, C., Leslie, B., Goodman, D., Wathen, N., Moody, B., & the
MAP Research Team. (2009). Child protection services and university-based
partnerships: A participatory action-based model for creating and sharing knowledge.
First Peoples Child & Family Review, 4(2), 118-128
(3) Wolfe, D. A., Wekerle, C., & Scott, K. (1997). Alternatives to violence: Empowering
youth to develop healthy relationships. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications

10. Christine Wekerle, Ph.D. (Clinical Psychology)
Associate Professor, Pediatrics, McMaster University
(chris.wekerle@gmail.com)
Other References:
(1) Wekerle, C., Waechter, R., Leung, E., & Chen, M. (2009). Chapter 6: Children and
youth served by Ontario’s Children’s Aid Societies. In Profile of Ontario’s Children and
Youth, Ontario Ministry of Children & Youth Services Internal Policy Document
(2) Waechter, R. L., Wekerle, C., Leslie, B., Goodman, D., Wathen, N., Moody, B., & the
MAP Research Team. (2009). Child protection services and university-based
partnerships: A participatory action-based model for creating and sharing knowledge.
First Peoples Child & Family Review, 4(2), 118-128
(3) Wolfe, D. A., Wekerle, C., & Scott, K. (1997). Alternatives to violence: Empowering
youth to develop healthy relationships. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications