Resilience following childhood maltreatment has received substantial empirical attention, with the number of studies on this construct growing exponentially in the past decade. While there is ample interest, inconsistencies remain about how to conceptualize and assess resilience. Further, there is a lack of consensus on how developmental stage influences resilience and how protective factors affect its expression. The current systematic review uses a developmental lens to synthesize findings on resilience following child maltreatment. Specifically, this article consolidates the body of empirical literature in a developmentally oriented review, with the intention of inclusively assessing three key areas—the conceptualization of resilience, assessment of resilience, and factors associated with resilience in maltreatment research. A total of 67 peer-reviewed, quantitative empirical articles that examined child maltreatment and resilience were included in this review. Results indicate that some inconsistencies in the literature may be addressed by utilizing a developmental lens and considering the individual’s life stage when selecting a definition of resilience and associated measurement tool. The findings also support developmental variations in factors associated with resilience, with different individual, relational, and community protective factors emerging based on life stage. Implications for practice, policy, and research are incorporated throughout this review.

Neighborhoods have profound impacts on children and families. Using structural equation modeling and data from 4,898 children in the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, the current study examines the direct and indirect effects of neighborhood poverty on the likelihood of being maltreated at age 5. Two neighborhood social processes, social cohesion and informal social control, were examined as mediators. The study found that neighborhood poverty was indirectly related to physical assault and psychological aggression through its impact on social cohesion, and indirectly related to neglect through its impact on informal social control. The results highlight the need to reduce poverty across communities and increase social cohesion and social control as potential pathways for interrupting the impact of neighborhood poverty on maltreatment.

This study identified coparenting patterns using data collected across 2007–2010 from low-income couples (N = 2915; 26.90% non-Hispanic White; 9.41% non-Hispanic Black; 34.24% Hispanic, 29.27% other or mixed race) with young children (M = 3.65 years; SD = 1.31 years; 48% girls) and examined relations with children's social–emotional adjustment. Latent profile analysis revealed four coparenting patterns: mutual high-quality (43.4%), moderate-quality, mothers less positive (31.8%), moderate-quality, fathers less positive (15.9%), and low-quality, mothers less positive (8.9%). When parents' perspectives on coparenting were positive and congruent, children fared best. Children also fared well when coparenting quality was moderate, and mothers were less positive than fathers. When coparenting quality was moderate and fathers were less positive than mothers, children showed the poorest adjustment.

This study examined patterns of father involvement and their relations with social, behavioral, and cognitive development among low-income children < 5 years. Latent class analysis on data from 2650 fathers (Mage = 29.35 years) in the Supporting Healthy Marriages program revealed four father involvement patterns: (1) High positive involvement (48%); (2) engaged but harsh discipline (42%); (3) low cognitive stimulation (8%); and (4) lower involvement (2%). The low cognitive stimulation pattern was associated with greater father- and mother-reported child behavior problems and lower child socioemotional and cognitive functioning. The engaged but harsh discipline pattern was associated with more father-reported child behavior problems. These findings highlight the need for active engagement of fathers in parenting interventions to promote child development.