Child Ahwr & NP,&w, Vol. I I. pp. 357.366, 1987 0145-2134187 $3.lXl + .

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RESILIENCE IN CHILD MALTREATMENT VICTIMS: A

CONCEPTUAL EXPLORATION

PATRICIAJ.MRAZEK, M.S.W.,PH.D.
Clinical Instructor of Pediatrics, University of Colorado School of Medicine

DAVID A. MRAZEK, M.D., M.R.C.PSYCH.

Research Scientist, Pediatric Psychiatry, National Jewish Center for Immunology and Respiratory Medicine
and Associate Professor of Child Psychiatry and Pediatrics, University of Colorado School of Medicine

Abstract-While many child maltreatment victims suffer serious negative emotional sequelae, others do sur-
prisingly well. Resilience in children is a relative concept which can change over time and is affected by environ-
ment and genetics. Resilience is fostered by protective factors which ameliorate or alter a child’s response to the
hazards of maltreatment that usually predispose to maladaptive outcome. Personal characteristics or skills that
may foster resilience include (I) rapid responsivity to danger; (2) precocious maturity: (3) dissociation of affect:
(4) information seeking; (5) formation and utilization of relationships for survival: (6) positive projective anticipa-
tion; (7) decisive risk taking: (8) the conviction of being loved: (9) idealization of an aggressor’s competence; (IO)
cognitive restructuring of painful experiences; (1 I) altruism: and (12) optimism and hope. There are also generic
life circumstances, such as having access to good health, educational, and social welfare services, that foster
resilience in children regardless of the specific nature of the stressor. Additionally, there may be abuse-specific
protective factors in the environment. Examples might include the quick and full acknowledgment of an offender
regarding abuse, or timeliness and permanence of legal actions affecting a child’s custody. The life stories of
three well-known survivors of various forms of child maltreatment illustrate how protective factors contribute to
resilience. A caution is noted regarding how personal characteristics developed for survival may become mal-
adaptive if overused and/or not given up when the stressor no longer exists. Characterological problems are
most likely to develop when a child’s life circumstances fail to change and the environment never becomes
secure.

Resume-Beaucoup d’enfants victimes de s&ices souffrent de sequelles affectives graves mais quelques-uns
s’en sortent remarquablement bien. Le “concept de resilience” ou “capacite de s’en sortir” est une notion
relative qui peut changer au tours du temps et qui est modifiee par I’environnement et I’hereditt. La resilience
est favorisee par des facteurs de protection qui ameliorent ou tout au moins alterent la reaction d’un enfant aux
mauvais traitements, etant entendu qu’habituellement les mauvais traitements conduisent a un Ctat de maladap-
tation dans la societe. Si on essaie d’analyser les caracteristiques personnelles ou les competences qui peuvent
faciliter cette resistance, on peut Cnumerer: (I) une mise en condition rapide a l’egard d’un danger; (2) un
maturite precoce; (3) une dissociation des emotions; (4) la capacite de se procurer des informations: (S) la
capacite de former des liens avec d’autres personnes pour les utiliser aux tins de survie et le maintien de ces
liens; (6) une anticipation positive de ce qui va se passer; (7) la capacite de prendre des risques; (8) la conviction
d’etre aime; (9) I’idealisation de la competence de I’agresseur; (IO) la comprehension structuree des experiences
douloureuses subies; (II) I’altruisme; (12) une bonne dose d’optimisme et de capacite d’esperer. En plus, il
existe des circonstances vitales favorables telles que I’acces a des services favorisant une bonne Sante. favori-
sant l’education et les relations sociales; ces facteurs augmentent la resistance chez les enfants quelle que soit la
nature specifique de I’agresseur ou des moyens utilises pour I’agression. En plus I’environnement de I’enfant
peut lui procurer des facteurs protecteurs specifiques vis-a-vis de la violence. Comme exemple on peut titer la
reconnaissance par I’agresseur des mefaits commis et la reconnaissance de la nature appropriee et permanente
des actions legales entreprises pour proteger I’enfant contre son gardien. Dans I’article I’auteur utilise les biogra-
phies de trois survivants celebres de differentes formes de maltraitance atin d’illustrer combien les forces de
protection contribuent a cette resistance. II faut cependant se souvenir que des traits de caractere qui ont CtC

Reprint requests to Patricia J. Mrazek, M.S.W., Ph.D., National Jewish Center for Immunology and Respiratory
Medicine, 1400 Jackson St., Denver, CO 80206.
357
358 Patricia J. Mrazek and David A. Mrazek

developpes pour survivre peuvent devenir des vecteurs de mauvaise adaptation a la societe si ils dtpassent leurs
buts ou si ils ne s’effacent pas lorsque le facteur de violence n’est plus present. Des problemes caracteriels se
rencontrent avec une grande probabilite si les circonstances ayant conduit a la violence ne se modifient pas au
tours du temps et si I’enfant ou la personne continue a vivre dans un milieu qui ne devient jamais securisant.

Key Words-Child maltreatment, Resilience, Protective factors

WITH NEW THERAPEUTIC ADVANCES many pediatric illnesses are no longer asso-
ciated with long-term morbidity. For example, most children recover from meningitis with
no permanent impairment despite a traumatic acute course. Much greater pessimism
seems to exist among clinicians caring for maltreated children, and they tend to be much
more guarded in their expectations for full recovery. Frequently, problems in providing
timely and effective psychotherapeutic intervention lead to frustration and a belief that
the emotional traumas associated with abuse will inevitably lead to lifelong disability. This
is understandable given that the clinical literature is replete with retrospective histories
from adults, maltreated as children, who now present with psychiatric problems, crimi-
nality, addiction, and general miserableness. Prospective research of abused children’s
development is discouraging, showing that many of these children continue to have se-
rious developmental and life-situational difficulties [l-3]. Other prospective studies with a
broader perspective also suggest that having a bleak childhood increases the chances for
poorer adult adjustment [4]. The prognosis seems indisputable, given the available re-
search and clinical experience, that the worse the maltreatment and the longer its dura-
tion, the greater difficulty a child will have in recovering and developing into an adaptable
adult, capable of working and loving. Yet some children come through devastating child-
hoods surprisingly well. In the literature these children have been referred to as “invul-
nerable” [5], “invincible and resilient” [6], and having the “spirit of survival” [7]. Steele
[S] has written of some of the famous world figures who outwardly were very successful
despite significantly unhappy childhoods. Vaillant has written that mental health is adap-
tation and that men alter themselves and the world around them in order to adapt to life.
“Good psychological health becomes apparent only when the going gets tough” [4:131.
Resilient children from difficult environments represent this healthy adaptation.
Efforts to prevent child maltreatment have resulted in a decrease in deaths, but the total
incidence of child abuse and neglect continues to be dramatic throughout the world. Sec-
ondary prevention through helping maltreated children utilize survival skills may yield
better results, and in this way the intergenerational repetition may be lessened. This
paper identifies some of the personal traits, interpersonal skills, and life circumstances
that can help children endure and eventually overcome severe early maltreatment. The
application of such frameworks of survival is highly relevant to the child abuse field
whose goal might be referred to as “human wound healing” [4:3651.

BASIC CONCEPTS

During the 1970s the concept of “invulnerable” children came into being, and the term
is still frequently used. However, it implies that these children are impervious to all
stressors and suggests that this toughness is constitutionally based. The term now pre-
ferred by many researchers in the field is “resilience. ” The issue is that this is a more
relative concept, implying that the degree of this attribute can change over time and is
affected by both genetic and environmental factors [9].
The central question about the resilience of children is not whether it exists, but rather
what traits contribute to this attribute and what mechanisms facilitate its operation. This
leads on to the concept of “protective factors ” which Rutter refers to as “influences that
 Resiliencein child maltreatment victims 359

modify, ameliorate, or alter a person’s response to some environmental hazard that pre-
disposes to a maladaptive outcome” [9:600]. If the hazard is maltreatment, it is well ac-
cepted that the child is at increased risk for physical injury and death, psychopathology,
and problems in later parenting. Protective factors may be either personal characteristics,
qualities, or skills of the individual who is at risk, or life circumstances. Often not well
recognized is the fact that personal characteristics do not have to be pleasant or desirable
as ordinarily conceived for them to improve survival. Nor do life circumstances neces-
sarily have to be positive or beneficial in order to be protective [9:600-6011. For example,
an unpleasant criminal trial may be a painful experience for a particular child, but the
opportunity to be heard and believed by a jury may, in the long term, be protective and
inhibit feelings of self-reproach and doubt. Characteristics of maltreated children that
may help them be resilient and overcome adversity may in some contexts make them
seem odd, imbalanced or inhibited. These qualities may interfere with normal interactions
if they persist after the maltreatment is past.
Finally, to understand that protective experiences and personal characteristics do not
operate in isolation is helpful. Rather, they operate through the effects they have on inter-
actions with others in an ongoing chain reaction over time. For example, a persistent,
inquisitive nature in a young child may be irritating to a mother who already feels har-
assed and may lead to early placement into a play group where the teacher rewards the
child’s curious nature with attention and special projects. This, in turn, enhances the
child’s self-esteem and fosters a positive anticipation for school which even the mother
finds pleasurable in the child.

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS AND SKILLS THAT MAY FOSTER

RESILIENCE IN MALTREATED CHILDREN

I. Rapid Responsivity to Danger

This is defined as an ability to recognize and adapt to the requirements of the imme-
diate social setting in order to avoid harm. This ability to respond at the right moment to
stressful situations in such a way that potentially explosive situations are avoided or par-
tially neutralized requires intense vigilance, intelligence, willful inhibition of affect, and
often conscious forethought. Some maltreated children adopt a style of hypervigilance in
all uncertain social relationships. They are on guard, careful, and quick to avoid esca-
lating situations. Such behavior should not be considered as odd, but rather as a skill that
has been developed in an attempt to survive in a difficult environment.

2. Precocious Maturity

Children in difficult environments often seem far older than their years. In the child
abuse field such behavior has been referred to as “pseudo adult” and as resulting in role
reversals, usually with parents. Maltreated children often prize these behaviors and are
reluctant to give them up, for not only have they helped them negotiate and survive ag-
gressive assaults, but also these competencies have bolstered their self-esteem and led to
a sense of control. Abusive parents and other adults in the child’s environment often
admire and praise abilities which are far beyond the child’s years. Examples include a
4-year-old child who can vacuum, change the baby’s diapers, and go to the corner store
across a busy street for cigarettes for the mother; a 7-year-old who can negotiate the
exchange of food stamps on the black market; and an 1l-year-old who regularly inter-
cedes in his parents’ battles and often successfully de-escalates the violence.
360 Patricia J. Mrazek and David A. Mrazek

3. Dissociation of Affect
The ability to distance oneself from intense feelings can be an effective defense and to
some degree can be consciously facilitated. Some stressed children do not dwell on par-
ticmar events because the associated feelings are too painful. Later they recall the event
and even talk about it in detail with no expression or feeling. An abused child who be-
comes too overwhelmed by fear, anger, or depression can no longer think clearly at
school, relate to peers, or avoid danger at home. While temporary dissociation may be
necessary to allow the child to function, pervasive and persistent blunting of affect may
have negative consequences for the development of future relationships.

4. Information Seeking

The desire to learn as much as possible about the hazards in one’s immediate environ-
ment leads to a body of knowledge that can be used at crucial moments. Whether the
hazard is a mentally ill or alcoholic parent or an abusive older sibling, the child who
understands the situation knows what may trigger his tormentor to act. He is aware that
his actions will have an effect on the interaction, and he is more able to work out protec-
tive strategies. One of the consequences of developing a better understanding of the me-
chanics of how violence is perpetuated in a particular family is the achievement of some
insight. These more adaptive children come to understand that they are not responsible
for the occurrence of abuse, but rather that they can achieve some control over its occur-
rence. Therapeutic efforts often capitalize on a child’s ability to appreciate that it is the
perpetrator who is at fault, not the victim. More positive long-term outcomes, as well as
short-term survival, have been associated with this realization.

This is the ability to create relationships that will result in critical help and support at
times of crisis. Some maltreated children in very difficult situations relate quickly and
intensely to adults with whom they come in contact. They are seen as being “indiscrimi-
nately affectionate.” They may quickly climb into an adult’s lap, hurriedly teli their life
story, or ask new therapists if they can come to therapy every day. Though such relation-
ships usually cannot be sustained over time, they do allow for some immediate support
and protection. Children who have neither long-standing relationships nor these more
transient but intense ones are at particularly high risk for depression and isolation.

This is the ability to project oneself into the future and fantasize about how life will be
when the difficult times are over. To do this requires both dissociation from the negative
affects of the present and the intellectual and emotional capacity to imagine oneself in a
different time and place. Some abused children do not think past tomorrow, do not spon-
taneously assume different identities and roles in their play, and have thoughts of their
future limited to repetition or absolute reversals of what they experience in their abusive
homes. Those who can work out within their own thoughts alternative strategies for the
future have a mechanism for gaining a sense of control over the present.

7. Decisive Risk ~ak~~~

To assume responsibility for oneself by making some crucial decisions and dealing with
the consequences can result in considerable personal risk. This ability to make things
 Resilience in child maltreatment victims 361

happen is the opposite of learned helplessness which many abused children acquire. They
become paralyzed by fear and self-doubt and can no longer see any connection between
their actions and what may result. More resilient children may take some risks, believing
they just may have an effect on the environment. This will, of course, manifest itself
differently through the developmental stages. For example, some latency-age children
and adolescents disclose their sexual abuse to the community in a carefully thought out
way, choosing who they tell and the time of the disclosure very carefully. Later, under
pressure, they may retract what they have said, but their initial determination to reveal
their circumstances is a strength which may be available again for use when other life
difficulties arise.

8. The Conviction ofBeing Loved

To achieve this conviction a child must have enough self-esteem to believe he is worthy
enough to be loved. Additionally, he must believe that someone he cares for has recip-
rocal feelings for him. Many children in foster care build up images of parents and siblings
at home who are suffering because of their unhappiness about being separated from the
child. Others remember a favorite teacher, social worker, or relative and believe that
person must still care even though they are no longer in contact. More adaptive children
may be able to use positive projective anticipation to achieve this end by fantasizing about
a future friend or spouse who will someday help undo the effects of the current suffering.
A variation of this characteristic is to turn to religion for help, believing in a personal and
caring God who will always be a source of comfort.

9. Idealization of an Aggressor’s Competence

Identification with the aggressor, as formulated by Anna Freud [lo], has a negative
connotation, particularly in those cases when the victim actually repeats the aggressor’s
acts of violence or negativity. A more positive and active response of the victim is the
recognition of the aggressor’s competencies and identification with these traits in such a
way that self-esteem is enhanced. For example, a child might idealize and identify with
the aggressor’s ability to achieve financial success, develop a close network of friends, or
be physically strong and healthy. In some cases, such an identification may facilitate more
positive interaction with the aggressor that subsequently leads to a decrease in the ag-
gressive behavior that has been directed toward the victim.

10. Cognitive Restructuring qf Painful Experiences

This mechanism refers to the ability to reprocess past negative events in one’s own
mind in order to make them more acceptable or congruent with one’s current view. It is
facilitied by dissociation from affects about the past, but it does not require amnesia for
events. It can result in an emotional distancing from the most negative situations. Some
abused children can describe events as not being “so bad after all” or perhaps even
leading to some future good. These children can identify more positive aspects of the past
and even enhance these relatively isolated moments. They can ascribe some good mo-
tives to perpetrators, and thus they do not need to reject these individuals completely.
They can also review their own behavior at the time of a crisis and focus on their more
adaptive responses which they might not have appreciated at the time. If unchecked, this
protective mechanism can lead to a serious loss of reality or become a way to justify
wrongdoing. At its best, it provides a positive foundation from which to continue to de-
velop more adaptive interactions.
362 Patricia J. Mrazek and David A. Mrazek

11. Altruism

This involves getting pleasure from giving to others what one would like to receive
oneself. If motivated by unmet needs, the child may unconsciously give up on getting
nurturance and affection for himself and instead provide for others, thus receiving some
vicarious gratification. Many abused children try desperately and sometimes successfully
to protect younger siblings from receiving the same maltreatment they have endured.
They care for and comfort their siblings as a good parent would. Sometimes their al-
truistic efforts extend outside the family, for example, to neighbor children or a child who
is scapegoated at school. They often are proud of their deeds and are positively reinforced
for them, sometimes by the family, but commonly by the community. Eventually, they
may choose models or heroes from other more giving people and begin to solidify their
identity as a helping person. However, in cases when maltreated children later discover
that their attempts to protect siblings from abuse were not successful or even appreciated
by the brothers or sisters themselves, a depressive reaction can be expected.

12. Optimism and Hope

This is a more overriding characteristic than the preceding eleven. It is an orientation to
life that permeates many personal characteristics and is reinforced by the successful use
of some of the other traits and skills that foster resilience. Optimistic people are often
more attractive and more fun to be with socially. They attract other people who can
facilitate good experiences for them. Optimism and hope can protect against negativism
and depression. They can help pull a maltreated child through a difficult situation. Such
attitudes form a basic life view to which a child can return when crises are past and he no
longer needs some of the traits and skills that have helped him to survive.

LIFE CIRCUMSTANCES THAT MAY FOSTER RESILIENCE

The presence of factors other than personal characteristics of the child that can foster
resilience and be protective is well established in the at-risk research of children under
stress. The environment, both within the family and the larger social system, plays a
critical role. Generic protective factors in the environment of stressed children include (1)
being in a middle to upper social class; (2) having educated parents; (3) having no family
background of psychopathology; (4) having a supportive family milieu; (5) having access
to good health, educational, and social welfare services; (6) having additional caretakers
besides the mother; and (7) having relatives (especially grandparents) and neighbors avail-
able for emotional support [6:134-135; 111.
Additionally, there may well be abuse-specific protective factors. For example, the
rapid and full acknowledgement of an offender regarding the abuse of a child, the unam-
bivalent support of a nonabusive parent. and a therapeutic process that validates a child’s
positive as well as negative feelings about the perpetrator may all be critical protective
factors that foster the resilience of sexually abused children. The timeliness and perma-
nence of legal actions affecting a child’s custody may be directly related to the outcome of
that child. Foster parents may facilitate resilience, particularly if they are capable of
showing feelings and providing experiences that the child’s biologic family could not. For
example, if a child was severely neglected, the foster parents may be particularly helpful
if they are not passive and do not have a propensity toward depression. If a child came
from an erratic and unpredictably explosive home, the foster home might be most protec-
tive if it is calm and structured with clear rules.
 Resilience in child maltreatment victims 363

Finally, an adult acting as a mentor or significant other can be a valuable protective

factor. Sheehy [7:354-3551 has referred to such a transformative figure as a “polestar,”
that is, an adult (such as a grandparent, teacher, coach, or social activist) who has pur-
pose and direction. A polestar encourages the young person, offers a goal that is healing,
and helps the child see the future with the hope that somehow things should get better.
Abused children certainly come into contact with many potential polestars following dis-
closure of their maltreatment. Social workers, physicians, guardians ad litem, and
teachers are all possibilities. However, many of these figures will have only transient
contact with the child. The resilient child may be able to develop and use such relation-
ships (see point 5). However, the special qualities of the longer term mentor relationship
with a child that allows for a protective mechanism to operate on a more permanent basis
are not at all clear. Such a relationship may be a safeguard against some of the described
personal survival characteristics becoming rigid, maladaptive character traits.

ILLUSTRATIONS IN LITERATURE

Many of the protective factors that are believed to mitigate the negative effects of the
various forms of maltreatment of children can be found in the life stories of survivors.
While this does not provide definitive proof of a causative mechanism, the association of
these particular styles of coping with successful outcomes suggests that they do work well
for some children. Extreme examples have been chosen intentionally to emphasize the
resilience that some children have exhibited.

A Fortunate Life [12]

A. B. Facey was born in Victoria, Australia in 1894. His father died before he was 2, and his mother deserted
him and four of his six siblings shortly afterwards. For the next two years the children were cared for by their
grandparents with very meager resources. After the grandfather died, their financial plight became very serious.
The grandmother became ill, but with other family help, they managed a move to western Australia. At age 8,
under pressure from an uncle, Facey was sent away from the family to live as a hired hand. He was badly treated
by his employer, dressed in rags, overworked, and prevented from all contact with his grandmother. Finally, he
was fiercely beaten and nearly killed. After recovery, he successfully managed an escape back to his own family,
but he stayed only a few months. The next couple he worked for were very kind to him and wanted to adopt him,
but his mother refused to legally relinquish him. The couple’s feelings toward him deteriorated, and eventually
he was told to leave. The rest of his childhood was spent in an endless succession of jobs as a laborer in the
isolated bush country with very little contact with his family.

Facey’s life story was published when he was 87. Although he had no formal education
and wrote only this one manuscript, his autobiography became a best seller and inspired a
television series. Those who hear of the life of this man are stunned by the horror of his
childhood and are deeply impressed by his ability to rise above his hardship and achieve a
highly satisfying marriage and career. Most paradoxical is his belief that his life had been
fortunate.
Facey was a resilient child whose personal traits helped him survive. He was preco-
ciously mature, surviving in the rough bush country when only 8 years of age. He learned
to be alert to danger after a foolish prank nearly resulted in his being killed by his em-
ployer. Facey always believed that he was loved by his grandmother. When lost in the
bush as a small boy, he was often comforted by his belief that she would be thinking and
worrying about him. He accepted the fact that his mother, who reappeared at various
points in his life, was unable to love and provide for her children. He did not interpret her
364 Patricia J. Mrazek and David A. Mrazek

behavior as his being unworthy of love but rather as her problem. Facey was able to
decisively take some important risks knowing that a failure could result in disaster. These
included his initial escape from the man who had beaten him as well as picking up stakes
later in childhood when he was mistreated. From an early age Facey could communicate
quickly and intensely with others. This is well illustrated by his finding a Scottish family
during his escape and enlisting their help in his plans to return home.
As an adult Facey’s optimistic view of the world and strong capability of rebounding
were clearly evident. He recovered from war injuries suffered at Gallipoli and the death of
two brothers in the war, the loss of his farm in the depression, and the later death of his
son in World War II. Yet, he felt his life was fortunate. He was able to cognitively restruc-
ture the events of his life and focus, not on the miserableness of it all, but rather on
courage, persistence, the joy of having a beloved wife for sixty devoted years, and the
specialness of being blessed with children over a 20-year span.

2. Spirit of Survival [7]

Mohm was 6 years old when her parents were taken away by the genocidal regime of Pol Pot in Cambodia. She
never saw them again, and they are presumed to be among the two million dead. A younger brother and sister
died of starvation and dysentery. For several years Mohm was forced to do physical labor in children’s work
camps under appalling conditions. In the midst of a bombing raid, she set off alone into the forest where she met
her brother who was also a fugitive. He told her that they must go their separate ways to help ensure that one of
them would survive. Eventually, she crossed the border into Viet Nam. At age 12 she met Gail Sheehy in a
refugee camp, and nine months later she came to New York and was adopted by Sheehy.

We do not know what in Mohm’s early life could have inspired her strong will to live
and her ability to survive detention, jungles, and refugee camps. She was the shy and
passive daughter of an army officer with close family relationships and a very comfortable
existence. Mohm’s strength, determination, and resilience developed over time. She had
an immense desire to live. She was alert to danger and conformed to what was expected
of her at the moment, while always looking for a way to escape. Using her intelligence,
she made good but risky choices such as what water was safe to drink and where to run
from the bombs. She had a deep belief in Buddha, and with each narrow escape from
death, she began to feel more special. “I began to think that life was not over, if I just kept
going, someday luck will come to me. I will be important and help other people to better
thinking” [7:343]. This “survival merit” as discussed by Sheehy [7:360] can be power-
fully healing and can help overcome the more commonly recognized survival guilt. If
persons can see the miracle of their survival as indicating merit, it can give them a reason
to live. They have some purpose or higher good they must do with their lives. Mohm
believes there is a strong reason for her survival; her God meant for her to live.

Empire in the Sun [13]

This is a story based on the early experience of Ballard in Shanghai during World War II which he has written in
the form of a novel. Jim, the only son of a well-to-do businessman, was 1I when the Japanese overtook the allied
forces in Shanghai. Separated from his parents in the first moments of the chaos of the sneak attack, he wan-
dered the city streets for days and took temporary shelter in the abandoned homes of English diplomats and
businessmen. Finally, he realized that his only hope for survival was to surrender himself to the Japanese and be
put in a detention camp. Such a surrender was dangerous, and he searched for days forjust the right opportunity
and the right Japanese soldier who would not kill him on the spot.

Jim survived for several years in detention camps surrounded by death, illness, and
starvation. Throughout his ordeal, Jim dissociated himself from intense affects and con-
 Resilience in child maltreatment victims 365

centrated on learning about his captors and the camp system. He adapted quickly, making
the most of every small opportunity. He learned how and when to take calculated risks.
He formed unusual and intense relationships with the camp doctor and the organizer of
the camp’s black market. Even prior to the take-over of Shanghai, he had admired the
competence of the Japanese pilots and the quality of their planes. This admiration was a
source of pleasure to him, quite separate from his recognition of their destructiveness. It
allowed him to relate with his captors in a more ambivalent way rather than with total fear
and hatred. This ability saved his life on more than one occasion. Throughout his ordeal
he believed that his parents were trying to rescue him. He never allowed himself to be-
lieve they were dead but rather would imagine what their life would be like together again
after the war.

CONCLUSION

Many maltreated children suffer permanent psychological scars. For these children, the
balance of risk factors and protective factors has not come out in their favor. The severity
and chronicity of abuse, the degree of accompanying rejection, the age of the child at
onset of abuse, and the genetic and temperamental capabilities of the child may have
negatively affected the child’s ability to adapt.
This paper is an early effort designed to identify clues regarding resilience in children
who have suffered the stress of maltreatment. Systematic research regarding abuse-spe-
cific protective factors is clearly needed, but until this is available, the results of research
on other childhood stressors, such as divorce, war, bereavement, and disadvantaged cir-
cumstances [141, should be combined with clinical experience from within the maltreat-
ment field to provide direction for case management. Identifying personal characteristics
and life circumstances that foster resilience offer our best hope in identifying methods for
preventing psychopathology in maltreatment victims. Therapists of maltreated children
must learn to understand the behavior of these children within a developmental frame-
work. The result is often a realization that many characteristics and behaviors that may
seem odd are reflections of children’s unique efforts to survive within a hostile environ-
ment.
If a maltreated child can be assured of a safe and caring environment, the therapeutic
task often becomes helping him or her to give up the excessive use of some of these
personal survival traits. If a child’s life circumstances never change and the environment
never becomes secure, some of the very traits that helped him or her survive childhood
are likely to develop into maladaptive characterological problems in adulthood. For ex-
ample, the conviction of being loved may develop into defensive narcissism, the forma-
tion and utilization of relationships for survival may lead to promiscuous attachments,
and cognitive restructuring of painful experiences may become a serious distortion of
reality.
Some children have a remarkable capacity for resilience. However, personal character-
istics and life circumstances may have to go hand in hand for resilience to be truly suc-
cessful.

REFERENCES

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