A Profile of Resilience in African American College Students Exposed to Adverse Childhood Events and Traum

Trauma and adverse events are extremely common in the general population and among African American college students, who report higher rates of trauma than their peers. Despite these experiences, most people are resilient. However, there is a paucity of research evaluating factors that facilitate the academic success of African American college students. Following Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory, this study seeks to develop a profile of resilience in 79 African American college students attending a Historically Black College/University (HBCU) who have a history of adverse childhood events and trauma; yet demonstrate high academic performance and academic adjustment. Significant differences in gender, income, and neighborhood characteristics (i.e., neighborhood disorder and social cohesion) between resilient and non-resilient students were also analyzed. Significantly different groups of resilient and non-resilient students were created for adverse events and each type of trauma assessed (i.e., crime-related, general disaster and trauma, physical and sexual experiences). Resilient students reported lower levels of neighborhood disorder than non-resilient students, but in general, those differences did not reach significance. The results from the study also surprisingly revealed that common methods for measuring college academic adjustment may not be appropriate for HBCU African American college students. This study revealed that resilience can vary according to the type of adversity/trauma experienced and a person's childhood neighborhood can influence personal characteristics observed in adulthood.