1. Resilience in Aboriginal Children and Adolescents in Out-of-Home Care: A Test of an Initial Explanatory Model
Katharine M. Filbert
School of Psychology
Centre for Research on Educational and Community Services (CRECS)
University of Ottawa, ON, Canada

2. Presentation Overview
Background Information:
Aboriginal children and adolescents
Resilience
Developmental assets
High levels of functioning
Methodology
Results
Implications
Limitations
Future Research

3. Aboriginal Children and Adolescents
30-40% (80,000) of young people in foster care in Canada
< 5% (27,000) of the general youth population
(Gough, Trocmé, Brown, Knoke, & Blackstock, 2005)
Have heightened risks

4. Resilience
Positive adaptation during or following adversity or serious threats to development
Inferred from judgments about:
quality of an individual’s functioning or development
exposure to a threat to functioning or development
Not a personality trait or attribute

5. Developmental Assets (http://www.search-institute.org/assets/)
40 developmental assets organized into eight categories and further divided into external and internal factors:
External assets:
Support
Empowerment
Boundaries and Expectations
Constructive Use of Time
Internal assets:
Commitment to Learning
Positive Values
Social Competencies
Positive Identity

6. Comparison of Average Number of Developmental Assets Per Youth
In United States (Search Institute sample): 18
In Canada (OnLAC sample): 27.5
Differences between samples in:
measures
rating sources
average quality of placement homes
ratings

7. High Levels of Functioning in Aboriginal Youth
Research has indicated that developmental assets explained 47% of the variance in high levels of functioning (Scales et al., 2000)
Important developmental assets:
other adult relationships
personal power
sense of purpose
caring
cultural competence
responsibility
valuing diversity
leadership
school success

8. Resilience of In-Care Youth
% of youth identified as resilient varies widely within and across studies
Small to moderate number of maltreated youth are typically competent in one or more developmental tasks within at least one point in time
In general, resilient functioning is less common in maltreated children than those who have experienced other familial adversities
(Legault, Anawati, & Flynn, 2006)

9. Resilience of Aboriginal Youth (Lalonde, 2006)
Promotion of culture is related to increased resilience
Aboriginal communities with restored self-government had 85% lower risk of youth suicide than those communities without
In communities that controlled and implemented plans for children in care, youth suicide rate was 25% lower than communities without this control

10. Purpose of the Present Study
To examine resilience-promoting factors (Masten, 2006) on the child, family, and community level that are associated with positive mental health and educational outcomes in an Aboriginal sample of youths living in out-of-home care.

11. Participants 103 First Nations youths
48 females (M = years; SD = 2.05)
55 males (M = years; SD = 1.92)
aged years
drawn from year five ( ) of the larger Looking After Children in Ontario (OnLAC) project

12. Assessment and Action Record (second Canadian adaptation; AAR-C2; Flynn et al., 2006)
Mandated by the Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Services for use every year, with all young people who have been in foster care in Ontario for a year or more
7 outcome domains:
(1) health
(2) education
(3) identity
(4) family and social relationships
(5) social presentation
(6) emotional and behavioural development
(7) self-care skills

13. Predictor Variables Age (M = 13.27 years; SD = 1.98)
Gender (48 females; 55 males)
Cumulative risk (M = 6.09; SD = 3.34 )
First Nations cultural opportunities
(M = 1.37; SD = 1.34 )
Developmental assets (M = ; SD = 7.84)

14. Outcome Measures Pro-social Total Difficulties Score
General Self-Esteem
Education

15. Pro-social Scale (N = 102) *

16. Total Difficulties Score (N = 102)* * * *

17. General Self-Esteem Scale (N = 101)*

18. Education Scale (N = 101) *

19. Implications
Developmental assets was consistently the strongest predictor
Consistent with resilience theory
Importance of First Nations cultural opportunities
Incorporation of assets into plan-of-care
Strategies to offset risk factors

20. Limitations Small sample size of only First Nations in-care youths
No comparison group

21. Future Research Métis and Inuit in-care youths
Methods to increase developmental assets
Ways to offset the consequences of having few assets

22. References
Flynn, R. J., Dudding, P. M., & Barber J. G. (Eds.). (2006a). Promoting resilience in child welfare. Ottawa, ON: University of Ottawa Press.
Flynn, R. J., Ghazal, H., & Legault, L. (2006b). Looking After Children: Good parenting, good outcomes, assessment and action records (second Canadian adaptation). Ottawa, ON & London, UK: Centre for Research on Community Services, University of Ottawa & Her Majesty’s Stationary Office.
Goodman, R. (1997). The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire: A research note. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 38,
Gough, P., Trocmé, N., Brown, I., Knoke, I., & Blackstock, C. (2005). Pathways to the overrepresentation of Aboriginal children in care. CECW Information. Retrieved from
Lalonde, C. E. (2006). Identity formation and cultural resilience in Aboriginal communities. In R. J. Flynn, P. M. Dudding, & J. G. Barber (Eds.), Promoting resilience in child welfare (pp ). Ottawa, ON: University of Ottawa Press.
Legault, L., Anawati, M., & Flynn, R. (2006). Factors favoring psychological resilience among fostered young people. Children and Youth Services Review, 28,
Masten, A. S. (2006). Promoting resilience in development: A general framework for systems of care. In R. J. Flynn, P. M. Dudding, & J. G. Barber (Eds.), Promoting resilience in child welfare (pp. 3-17). Ottawa, ON: University of Ottawa Press.
Scales, P. C., Benson, P. L., Leffert, N., & Blyth, D. A. (2000). Contribution of developmental assets to the prediction of thriving among adolescents. Applied Developmental Science, 4,
Scales, P. C. (1999). Reducing risks and building developmental assets: Essential actions for promoting adolescent health. Journal of School Health, 69,

23. Questions/Comments?