Abstract
Childhood adversity has become a global social concern because its potential traumatic effects may lead to longer-term adverse health, psychological, and social outcomes for children, their families, communities, and society (Bellis et al., 2019; Hughes et al., 2021; Kim & Royle, 2024). Safety has long been proposed as a central element in treating trauma, promoting recovery of traumatic stress-related disorders (e.g., post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD), depression, anxiety) and psychological well-being (Bloom & Farragher, 2013; Herman, 1992; Hobfoll et al., 2007; Porges, 2021; van der Kolk, 2003). Scant work, however, has focused on the impacts of adversity on children’s safety perception, such as feeling (un)safe in the absence of an active threat following an adverse experience compared to adults (e.g., Basile et al., 2022). Social support is noted as a protective factor in relation to reactions to child trauma, but it is not known if this may improve outcomes due to an association with helping children feel safe. Further, little is known about whether perceived safety may buffer the effects of adversity on childhood mental health and well-being. This dissertation aims to help address some of the gaps in our understanding of how childhood adversity, safety perception, and social support may impact later child well-being outcomes. Based on a proposed conceptual model of safety in the context of childhood adversity, multinomial logistic regression and ordinary least squares regression were used to conduct secondary data analysis with two publicly available datasets: the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS) and Children’s Worlds: International Survey of Children’s Well-Being (ISCWeB). Three specific aims examined aspects of the relationships between these constructs. Overall findings indicate an interconnected picture: childhood adversity and/or material hardship influence children’s safety perception as well as their mental and psychological well-being. Although the two data sets measured the constructs in somewhat different ways both saw direct effects on perceived safety at school and in the community. While only the global dataset addressed perceived safety at home, there was a similar pattern. The results did not support a moderating effect of perceived safety in associations between children’s experiences of adversity or poverty and depressive and anxiety symptoms (FFCWS) or psychological well-being (ISCWeB). There was a moderating effect of the presence of social support figures, however, found in the ISCWeB data. Specifically, social support figures exhibited a stronger positive association with psychological well-being for those children who reported feeling less safe at home, school, and in the community. These findings align with theoretical perspectives emphasizing the significance of safety in mental health, trauma recovery, and child development (Herman, 1992; Moore & Lippman, 2005; Porges, 2021; van der Kolk, 2014) and add to the scant empirical findings related to the potential interconnected relationships between childhood adversity, safety, and child well-being. This dissertation suggests that restoring the perceived safety of children exposed to adversity, as well as assuring children have positive social support figures in their lives, may be a promising way to intervene in childhood adversity and modify its negative consequences.
Committee Chair
Melissa Jonson-Reid
Committee Members
Alexis Duncan; Brett Drake; Byron Powell; Jun-Hong Chen; Tonya Edmond
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Author's Department
Social Work
Document Type
Dissertation
Date of Award
5-2-2025
Language
English (en)
Recommended Citation
Huang, Xuan, "When Threat and Safety Cues are Present: A Quantitative Study Exploring the Relationships Between Childhood Adversity, Social Support Figures, Subjective Safety, and Child Well-Being Outcomes" (2025). Brown School Theses and Dissertations. 48.
The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.7936/zyfx-ad95