Disciplines
Psychology
Abstract (300 words maximum)
Despite declining rates of community violence in the United States, violence remains a pervasive public health problem that disproportionately affects children. Violence exposure has been linked to a multitude of negative consequences on children’s academics, behavior, mental and physical health, some of which have lasting implications. Future orientation is one of several positive “developmental assets” that may help to mitigate the risk of negative consequences associated with violence exposure. Although future orientation has been described in research in several different ways, studies typically find that youth who have higher general future orientation are better able to guide their current actions to achieve future goals. This poster synthesizes research from 11 research studies on future orientation among youth who have been exposed to violence. The authors qualitatively charted each study’s major findings and practice recommendations. Recommendations to support the development of positive future orientation in the face of violence were generated based on the themes that emerged from coding prior studies. Recommendations broadly revolved around practitioners’ views and beliefs, addressing the root problem (i.e., violence), connecting to multiple youth-serving systems, and specific mechanisms to promote future orientation. Given the goal to promote future orientation among youth who have been exposed to violence, the recommendations take into account trauma-informed strategies for working with youth.
Academic department under which the project should be listed
RCHSS - Psychological Science
Primary Investigator (PI) Name
Chanler Hilley, PhD
Included in
Promoting Future Orientation Among Youth Exposed to Violence
Despite declining rates of community violence in the United States, violence remains a pervasive public health problem that disproportionately affects children. Violence exposure has been linked to a multitude of negative consequences on children’s academics, behavior, mental and physical health, some of which have lasting implications. Future orientation is one of several positive “developmental assets” that may help to mitigate the risk of negative consequences associated with violence exposure. Although future orientation has been described in research in several different ways, studies typically find that youth who have higher general future orientation are better able to guide their current actions to achieve future goals. This poster synthesizes research from 11 research studies on future orientation among youth who have been exposed to violence. The authors qualitatively charted each study’s major findings and practice recommendations. Recommendations to support the development of positive future orientation in the face of violence were generated based on the themes that emerged from coding prior studies. Recommendations broadly revolved around practitioners’ views and beliefs, addressing the root problem (i.e., violence), connecting to multiple youth-serving systems, and specific mechanisms to promote future orientation. Given the goal to promote future orientation among youth who have been exposed to violence, the recommendations take into account trauma-informed strategies for working with youth.