Keys to emotional wellbeing and resilience in minors who have suffered trauma

Abstract

Being a victim of a violent event in childhood carries a higher risk of developing emotional, behavioral and social problems. However, not all minors show serious negative consequences. Their degree of resilience will depend on previous emotional stability, degree of self-esteem, cognitive style and the type of experiences, as well as their ability to solve problems. Protective factors implicated in resilience include a stable family environment, helpful relationships with peers, and community support. There are certain adaptive coping strategies, such as striving to realistically solve everyday problems, adapting to the new reality, and actively forgetting or forgiving what happened. The greater or lesser use of certain cognitive emotional regulation strategies can also condition the recovery process or be linked to different trajectories of the victims in the face of potentially traumatic events. A positive indicator of the victim’s improvement is when the verbal expression of feelings is recovered and order is brought to the chaos of images and memories of the violent event. Further research is required in the near future, such as the influence of the age and gender of minors and the role of coping strategies and emotional regulation.