Setting the stage for resilience among male adolescents and young adults

1. Setting the stage for resilience
among male adolescents and
young adults
Christine Wekerle, Ph.D., Associate
Professor, Pediatrics, McMaster
University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Email: wekerc@mcmaster.ca
Twitter: @DrWekerle #CIHRTeamSV
#CIHRTeamSV Research Project:
Understanding health risks and
promoting resilience in male youth with
sexual violence experience. Canadian
Institutes of Health Research
https://www.researchgate.net/project/Underst
anding-health-risks-and-promoting-resilience-in-
male-youth-with-sexual-violence-experience-
CIHR-Team-Grant-TE3-13830

2. Sexual victimization of male youth
 CSA rate 127/1000 children
 120 million females
 70 million males
 Global Partnership to End Violence http://www.end-
violence.org/
 South Africa Male Survivors of Sexual Abuse (SAMSOSA)
endeavours to serve as a resource and referral centre,
providing information, support and training for victims,
affected individuals and organisations in a safe, non-
judgemental structure
 South African Laws:
http://www.samsosa.org/wp/definitions-and-laws/
 http://www.samsosa.org/wp/how-to-report-male-sexual-
abuse-or-rape-to-the-police/

3. Definition of Child Sexual Abuse (CSA)
 Involvement of minor in sexual activity, either
forcefully or without force, including contacts for
sexual purposes, prostitution, pornography, or other
sexually exploitive activities
 US Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention http://www.ojjdp.gov
 (1) Public Health – Prevention of premature mortality, directly and indirectly; ACEs
 Prevalence of official investigations: In US, 37.4% of all children will be subject of a CPS
investigation by age 18 (Kim et al., 2017)
 (2) Humanitarian/Trauma-informed – Child marriage, FGM, Use of children during conflict
(sex, labor, shielding); lone child migrants
 (3) Human Rights/ Legal – Duty Bearers – Statutes of Limitations for Reporting; Mandatory
Reporting; Professional reporting duties; gender equality
 Wekerle, C. (2013). Resilience in the context of child maltreatment: Connections to the
practice of mandatory reporting. Child Abuse & Neglect, 37(2-3), 93-101.
 Wekerle, C. & Black, T. (2017). Gendered violence: Advancing evidence-informed research,
practice and policy in addressing sex, gender and child sexual abuse. Child Abuse & Neglect,
66), 166-170.

4. Youth with child maltreatment experiences:
Conceptual Frameworks
 Adverse Childhood Events – Cumulative stress
approach recognizing the co-occurrence of contexts of
adversity while growing up
 Developmental Traumatology – Trauma impact (and
missed opportunities) on developmental systems
(biopsychosocial)
 Youth Rights – Prioritization of minimal standards for
(1) freedom from violence;(2) youth well-being; (3)
youth participation
 Youth Resilience – Person by environment interaction,
where internal resourcefulness meets external
resources; self-righting, recovery, return-to-
functioning, thriving; adaptation

5. Global Youth Wellbeing Index (2014)
http://www.youthindex.org/about/

6. Global Rights Initiatives:
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
 Goal 16 “Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for
sustainable development, provide access to justice for all
and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at
all levels”
 Includes targets to: “Significantly reduce all forms of
violence and related death rates everywhere,” (16.1)
 “End abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of
violence against and torture of children” (16.2).
 Two of the indicators selected to monitor target 16.2 are:
 (1) proportion of children aged 1-17 years who experienced any
physical punishment and/or psychological aggression by
caregivers in the past month (indicator 16.2.1) and
 (2) proportion of young women and men aged 18-29 years
who experienced sexual violence by age 18 (indicator
16.2.3)

7. What are youth rights?
Youth Participation – “Not about us, without us”
• UN CRC Article 12
Every youth has the right to say what they
think in all matters affecting
them, and to have their views taken seriously
• GOAL: Sustainable, multi-
disciplinary, culturally responsive,
survivor-driven approach to ending
gender-based violence

8. MAP Study Research Team & Funders (C. Wekerle)
Multi-disciplinary Co-Investigator Team (alphabetical order):
Dr. Michael Boyle, McMaster University
Dr. Deborah Goodman, University of Toronto; Child Welfare Institute, Children’s Aid Society of
Toronto
Mr. Bruce Leslie, Catholic Children’s Aid Society of Toronto (retired)
Dr. Eman Leung, City University of Hong Kong
Dr. Harriet MacMillan, McMaster University
Dr. Nico Trocmé, McGill University
Dr. Randall Waechter, St. George’s University
MAP Advisory Board – child welfare agency representatives and researchers
Partners: Child Welfare Research Portal (cwrp.ca), Child Welfare League of Canada, First Nations
Child and Family Caring Society of Canada, Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies
CIHR Team grant in boys’ and men’s health – male CSA – secondary analyses

9. MAP Youth-reported CSA Experiences
 Sexually Active Youth (N=297/561; Mean Age=16; SD=1.01); 57.6% Females
 89.6% identified as Heterosexual; 9.7% as Bisexual; .8% as gay/lesbian
 Sexually Active MAP Youth reported higher rates of physical, sexual, and
emotional abuse than non-sexually Active MAP Youth
 Among Sexually Active Youth, 43% reported CSA (128/297 Ss)
Females (67%) Males (33%)
Fondling 54% 45%
Molested 47% 38%
“I was sexually abused.” 55% 41%
Caseworker agreement 39% 77%
Reference: Wekerle, C., Goldstein, A., Tanaka, M. & Tonmyr, L. (2017). Childhood sexual abuse, sexual
motives, and sexual risk-taking among male and female youth receiving child welfare services. Child Abuse
& Neglect: The International Journal, 66. 101-111.

10. Motives for Behaviours: Links to Adolecent Health Risks
- CSA Males > likely to have sex for peer and partner approval
compared to non-CSA males
- Sex for coping with negative affect – Mediator of the CSA – Adolescent
Sexual Health Risk Behaviour Relationship
CopingEnhancement
Social Conformity
Source
Valence
Positive Negative
External
Internal
Cooper, 1994

11. Diversity of responses to trauma
Traumatic
Event(s)
Trauma
Response(s)
RESILIENCE

12. Canadian Institutes of Health Research
Award-winning IHDCYH Video Talks 2015
 The Maltreatment and Adolescent
Pathways Research Study – Key Findings
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Z
es-
PJi2OY&list=PLxWz0fEGuv6oBzjm34lYd2
ykUH8IoXkCX&index=4
 For a listing of MAP Study Publications –
Email wekerc@mcmaster.ca

13. Developing Daily Resilience Practices
 School and Social Connectedness
 Hamilton, H., Wekerle, C., Paglia-Boak, A., & Mann, R. (2012). The role of school connectedness and the link between family involvement with child protective
services and adolescent adjustment. Advances in Mental Health, 11(1), 25-34.
 Mattering
 Flett, G.L., Goldstein, A.L., Pechenkov, I., Nepon, T., & Wekerle, C. (2016). Antecedents, correlates, and consequences of feeling like you don’t
matter: Associations with maltreatment, loneliness, social anxiety, and the five factor model. Personality and Individual Differences, 92, 52-56.
 Self-compassion
 Tanaka, M., Wekerle, C., Schmuck, ML., Paglia-Boak, A. & The MAP Research Team (2011). The linkages among child maltreatment, adolescent mental health, and
self-compassion in child welfare adolescents. Child Abuse & Neglect, 35, 887-898.
 Problem-focused coping
 Hudson, A., Wekerle, C., Goldstein, A. L., Ellenbogen, S., Waechter, R., Thompson, K., Stewart, S. H. (2017). Gender Differences in Emotion-Mediated Pathways
from Childhood Sexual Abuse to Problem Drinking in Adolescents in the Child Welfare System. Journal of Child and Adolescent Trauma, 10(1), 19-29.
 Sleep Quality/Routine
 McPhie, M., Weiss, J., & Wekerle, C. (2014). Psychological distress as a mediator of the relationship between childhood maltreatment and sleep quality in
adolescence: Results from the Maltreatment and Adolescent Pathways (MAP) Longitudinal Study. Child Abuse and Neglect, 38(12), 2044-2052.
 Focusing, sustaining attention
 Waechter, R., & Wekerle, C. (2015). Promoting Resilience Among Maltreated Youth Using Meditation, Yoga, Tai Chi and Qigong: A Scoping Review of the Literature.
Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 32, 17- 31.

14. Thank you for your attention!
Questions or Comments?