Socioemotional Resilience Among Rural Youth Involved With CPS: An Exploration of Profiles of Socioecological Protective Factors

Children impacted by child protective services (CPS) may demonstrate maladaptive outcomes across developmental domains. Yet, the broader context in which children are situated can shape resilience processes. For rural youth, understaffed and overburdened CPS offices mean that families may need to rely on other support following an investigation. Thus, socioecological protective factors across contexts may be essential for promoting socioemotional resilience in the context of CPS and rurality. Using data from two cohorts of the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being collected in the United States, we estimated configurations of socioecological protective factors among rural youth (i.e., ages 3 to 10 years old) impacted by CPS. A latent profile analysis (LPA) identified three profiles: Overall Supportive Ecological Environments, Unsupported Caregiver Environments, and Low Stimulating/Sensitive Caregiving Environments. Most rural youth investigated by CPS were identified as living in Overall Supportive Ecological Environments, which in turn was associated with overall socioemotional resilience in the short-term and greater prosocial skills in the long-term. These findings highlight the importance of centering context when researching resilience and fostering socioecological protective factors for rural youth impacted by CPS.