Sherry Hamby

University of the South | Sewanee · Dept of Psychology

The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) studies transformed our understanding of the true burden of trauma. Notable elements of Felitti and colleagues' findings include the influence of adversity on many physical as well as psychological problems and the persistence of impacts decades after the traumas occurred. In this article, we make the case t...

Watch Dr. Hamby's TEDx talk at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTBqhQNUtrI. We need resilience, now more than ever. Surprisingly, the newest research on the true burden of trauma also reveals that there is extensive untapped wisdom about resilience. Dr. Hamby reveals what she has learned from her own experiences overcoming trauma and more than 20...

Objective: The negative biopsychosocial outcomes associated with exposure to victimization are well-known, however, limited research has examined the protective factors that can enhance well-being and growth following polyvictimization from in-person and digital sources. This study examines the contribution of adversities and a range of psychologic...

Accumulating evidence indicates the multifaceted nature of social support. Although support seekers may receive help, they may also encounter upsetting responses. It remains unclear how seeking and receiving social support, when differentiated, are associated with individuals’ strengths and well-being. This study collected survey data from 357 adul...

This study examined transitions in resilience profiles and the role of caregiver risk and protective factors in resilience transition probabilities over 18 months among children involved with the child welfare system, using latent profile analysis and latent transition analysis. The sample included 486 children (48% female, baseline Mage = 3.49). T...

Most research on resilience has been conducted in North America and Western Europe, limiting our understanding of the processes of overcoming trauma in other cultural settings. This study explored the process of resilience through in-depth interviews with 19 emerging adults in Kosovo, a collectivist and post-conflict society. The study also include...

A key finding of this research is that a significant proportion of participants (9 out of 10) reported experiencing at least one form of victimization Similar findings emerge from Chile, with 89% reporting at least one form of victimization (Pinto Cortez et al., 2017), from Mexico with 86% (Méndez-Lopez & Pereda, 2019), and Spain, at 79% (Gonzalez-...

This coping questionnaire assesses cognitive, emotional, and behavioral methods of dealing with problems. YOU DO NOT NEED TO REQUEST PERMISSION TO USE THIS SCALE. The Coping Scale is free to use with appropriate citation (in Methods section and in References). Do not send inquiries through ResearchGate. Use lifepaths@lifepathsresearch.org.

This is an entry in the Encyclopedia of Domestic Violence describing Sherry Hamby's career and contributions to the field.

Background: Identifying factors that support healthy psychological functioning after experiencing violence or other adversities in youth can lead to better prevention and intervention efforts. This is particularly important among communities with disproportionately high rates of adversity resulting from legacies of social and political injustices,...

To explore individuals’ personal narratives of perceived betrayals and injustices committed by institutions, their representatives, or other authority figures and discern in what spheres of life they commonly manifest. 157 adults from largely rural, low-income communities in southern Appalachia participated in semi-structured qualitative interviews...

Identifying psychosocial strengths that support physical health can lead to better pathways to prevention and intervention. Relying on the resilience portfolio model as a conceptual framework, this study explores strengths in three domains (regulation, meaning making, and interpersonal) to identify promising protective factors to support physical h...

While research knowledge of bias-based bullying is increasing, there has been only limited research comparing in-person and online bias-based victimization incidents. The current study presents data on 521 bias-based incidents experienced by a large sample of youth (n = 854), 13–21 years old, examining differences between incidents that occurred so...

The goal of this study was to explore facets of childhood eco-connections, using retrospective qualitative data from adults. One hundred and forty-five adults from predominantly rural and small-town communities in southern Appalachia (71.7% female), average age 36.23 years (SD = 12.08) participated in semi-structured qualitative interviews on key l...

There is limited research on adverse childhood experiences among rural communities in the United States. The purpose of the study was to identify the types of events that Appalachian young people self-identified as low-point life experiences and examine how they responded and coped with those experiences. The study analyzed narratives collected fro...

This coping questionnaire assesses cognitive, emotional, and behavioral methods of dealing with problems. YOU DO NOT NEED TO REQUEST PERMISSION TO USE THIS SCALE. The Coping Scale is free to use with appropriate citation (in Methods section and in References). Do not send inquiries through ResearchGate. Use lifepaths@lifepathsresearch.org.

Youth survivors of teen dating violence (TDV) are hesitant to reach out for services from social service providers for fear of judgement and not being believed. Given the central role that technology plays in youths’ lives, it has been suggested that digital innovations can help overcome some of these barriers. The present study explores the percep...

This study aimed to examine the association between early childhood resilience profiles and later school outcomes (academic achievement and school involvement) among children in the U.S. child welfare system. This study compared 827 children aged 3–5 years in three latent profile groups (poor emotional and behavioral resilience, low cognitive resil...

Most people who experience trauma want to thrive and often find paths to well-being and healthy functioning. This scoping review explores the existing evidence on adversity and resilience in southeastern European countries, focusing on Kosovo. There is a lack of research on trauma and resilience in cultures outside the US and Western Europe. The pa...

Prior research on social support tends to focus solely on support received, although accumulating evidence has indicated the multifaceted nature of social support. Support seekers may encounter unsupportive or upsetting responses. It remains unclear how seeking and receiving social support, when taken together, are associated with individuals’ stre...

Given the high burden of child maltreatment, there is an urgent need to know more about resilient functioning among those who have experienced maltreatment. The aims of the study were to: 1) identify distinct profiles of resilience across cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and social domains in young children involved in the child welfare system; an...

A new way of thinking about prevention that focuses on building assets and resources. This book provides practitioners and researchers with the means to make more impactful choices in the design and implementation of prevention programs. Drawing from state-of-the-art research on a range of behavior problems such as violence, drug abuse, suicide, an...

As researchers, providers, and policymakers strive to make their work more inclusive, it is important to move beyond simply paying more attention to “understudied” groups. Along with calls for more research, there should be equally vigorous calls to move beyond stigmatizing, deficits-based approaches and instead develop respectful, strengths-based...

Objective: Experiencing traumatic events may invoke posttraumatic symptoms (PTS) or growth (PTG). Using a dual-factor approach inspired by the dual-factor model of mental health, we explore the intersections of posttraumatic symptoms and growth with 21 strengths and indicators of psychological, physical, and spiritual well-being. Method: A surve...

Considering the high prevalence and negative consequences of non-maltreatment adverse childhood experiences (NM-ACEs), it is critical to understand their impacts on the resilient functioning of young children. This study sought to examine heterogeneity in resilience among first-grade children who were exposed to NM-ACEs during kindergarten and expl...

In this commentary, we outline four key trends in violence and trauma research and describe needed research to advance our ability to understand, prevent, and respond these problems. The trends are the move toward evidence-based policy, the recognition of the importance of trauma dosage, the shift to strengths-based approaches, and increased attent...

This coping questionnaire assesses cognitive, emotional, and behavioral methods of dealing with problems. YOU DO NOT NEED TO REQUEST PERMISSION TO USE THIS SCALE. The Coping Scale is free to use with appropriate citation (in Methods section and in References). Do not send inquiries through ResearchGate. Use lifepaths@lifepathsresearch.org.

This coping questionnaire assesses cognitive, emotional, and behavioral methods of dealing with problems. YOU DO NOT NEED TO REQUEST PERMISSION TO USE THIS SCALE. The Coping Scale is free to use with appropriate citation (in Methods section and in References). Do not send inquiries through ResearchGate. Use lifepaths@lifepathsresearch.org.

Objective Increasing meaning in life (MiL) among people experiencing disease or adversity may improve coping and resilience. The purpose of this review is to characterize the effects of MiL interventions. Data Source A systematic search of PubMed, PsycInfo, and Google Scholar was conducted encompassing the following parameters: meaning in life, pu...

Guided by the Resilience Portfolio Model, this study examined strengths associated with well-being and post-traumatic growth (PTG) among women who had experienced intimate partner violence (IPV). Participants were 109 Spanish women who were receiving specialized psychological services for IPV. They completed a survey on multiple indicators of stren...

Some negative experiences during adolescence can jeopardize psychological adaptation throughout life. Therefore, promoting adolescent resilience is an important goal to prevent symptoms of psychopathology. The Resilience Portfolio Model puts forward a framework to understand how different strengths (classified into three dimensions: regulatory, int...

Research on cyber-victimization has primarily focused on cyberbullying conducted in urban and suburban (metropolitan) settings. We explore a range of cyber-victimizations, including financially motivated offenses and cyberbullying, and their associations with current psychological and health status in a nonmetropolitan sample from southern Appalach...

Bystander intervention programs are viewed as innovative community-level responses to sexual and dating violence among adolescents and young adults (Banyard, 2014; McMahon & Farmer, 2009; Moynihan et al., 2015; Storer et al., 2017). At the school and community level, factors such as social cohesion, collective efficacy, and exposure to community vi...

Objectifs : Cette étude utilise une approche à double facteur pour examiner l’association entre la recherche de soutien social et le soutien reçu avec six indicateurs de fonctionnement global et 14 indicateurs de forces psychosociales. Méthodologie : Un questionnaire mesurant les forces, le fonctionnement et la victimisation a été rempli par 440 pa...

Research has documented that a significant portion of youth are exposed to bias victimization. However, less is known about whether experiencing certain types of bias victimization (e.g., sexual orientation bias) is more or less likely to be related to a more extensive bias victimization history (i.e., experiencing multiple types of bias victimizat...

This study reports on the development of a comprehensive assessment of exposure to guns and gun-related violence for evaluating the risk of gun-related trauma. Gun access, gun attitudes, gun safety education, and exposure to gun violence were measured. Participants were 630 youth, aged 2–17. Youth, ages 10–17, completed a self-report survey and car...

The role of gender has received considerable attention in the academic literature on intimate partner violence (IPV). The Grand Challenges for Social Work take a gender-neutral approach, without regard to the influence of gender on adolescent development and dating relationships. This positioning is inconsistent with gender mainstreaming approaches...

Objectives: This study adopts a dual-factor approach to examine the association of seeking and receiving social support with 6 indicators of current functioning and 14 psychosocial strengths. Methods: A survey completed by 440 youth ages 10 to 21 (M = 16.38, SD = 3.04) assessed strengths, functioning, and victimization. Youth were classified into f...

As researchers, providers, and policymakers strive to make their work more inclusive, it is important to move beyond simply paying more attention to “understudied” groups. Along with calls for more research, there should be equally vigorous calls to move beyond stigmatizing, deficits-based approaches and instead develop respectful, strengths-based...

Guided by the dual factor model of mental health and the resilience portfolio model, this study sought to identify protective factors that distinguish adolescents who exhibit different patterns of psychological symptoms and well-being. Participants were 466 twelve- to 17-year-old adolescents recruited from the Appalachian region of 3 Southern state...

Although it is well known that victimization is associated with higher trauma symptoms, there is still limited information on the protective factors that can help people thrive after adversity. Using the Resilience Portfolio Model as a framework, this study explores a range of psychological and social strengths in a community sample of youth from t...

Although statistics on youth homicide and injury from gun violence are available, little research has focused on how gun violence overlaps with other victimizations or on the psychological impact of gun violence on children. Pilot survey data were collected on the experiences of 630 U.S. children (age range: 2–17 years) from Boston, Philadelphia, a...

Research on recognition of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and poly-victimization has transformed our understanding of violence and trauma exposure. Both concepts point to the importance of understanding the cumulative burden of trauma and the interconnections among forms of violence and abuse. However, there has been little conceptualization...

Purpose: Most children are exposed to violence (e.g., peer, family, or community violence), which makes children's exposure to violence one of our most urgent social problems. The objective of this project was to examine health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in a vulnerable community sample and identify promising psychological and social protecti...

Objective: This project used mixed methods to expand the understanding of social ecological constructs important to youth and develop measures to assess these constructs. Methods: Eight focus groups and 24 cognitive interviews were conducted with adolescents and caregivers. These were followed by a survey completed by 440 youth ages 10-21 (avera...

The current study examines the persistence of victimization and poly-victimization (i.e., count of multiple types of victimization) across various stages of development (ages 0–5, 6–12, and 13–18) and the related impact on adult well-being. Participants were 2,098 adults from the Appalachian region of three Southern states. Eighty-two percent of pa...

Objectives To assess the prevalence of corporal punishment usage in the US population. Methods This study was based on a 2014 cross-sectional, telephone survey of a nationally representative sample of US households with children. Reports about spanking of 0–9 year olds were obtained from parents, while reports about 10–17 year olds were obtained f...

There is a current public health emphasis on finding strategies for reducing the risks associated with children’s gun violence exposure. This article examines the impact of seeing and hearing gun violence on youth of different ages and living in urban and nonurban areas. Participants were 630 youth, aged 2 to 17. Youth, ages 10 to 17, completed a s...

Psychological studies often include indicators of physical and mental health as outcomes. However, researchers are now beginning to include a wide range of measures of well-being. The current study uses a cross-sectional community sample from rural Appalachia to examine age and gender trends in traditional outcome measures and in subjective measure...

Background: Childhood neglect is an understudied form of childhood maltreatment despite being the most commonly reported to authorities. Objective: This study provides national estimates of neglect subtypes, demographic variations in exposure to neglect subtypes, and examines the psychological impact. Participants and setting: Pooled data from...

Using a pooled data set of two waves of the National Surveys of Children’s Exposure to Violence, this study investigates links between indicators of socioeconomic resources and lifetime exposure to two different forms of child neglect (physical and supervisory), examines how neglect is associated with the risk of other types of victimization, and e...

This report presents measures of strengths in our resilience portfolio domains (regulatory, meaning making, and interpersonal), adversities, and outcomes that have been developed for youth ages 10 to 21 using a mixed-methods approach including 8 focus groups, 24 cognitive interviews, and a survey of 440 youth. The following scales are included: Re...

Social scientists have a potentially important role to play in combatting discrimination and hate-motivated aggression, as has been noted for over 50 years. Nonetheless, there is still relatively little research in this area, despite increasing recognition of discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, gender identity, sexual orientat...

Community psychologists have noted the limitations of professional models of mental health treatment, demonstrating that people are more likely to use informal familial or community support during adversity. However, relatively little is known about the forms and functions of informal help seeking and provision. Semistructured interviews (N = 170),...

Objective: The replication of findings is an important aspect of scientific research. This report examines data from a literature review of campus climate surveys and other research publications to determine the replicability of the pattern of gender asymmetry in intimate partner violence (IPV) found in the first studies using the Partner Victimiza...

Research on technology has burgeoned along with advances in technology. However, much research has relied primarily upon urban and suburban samples that are primarily recruited via technology (online or phone). The experiences of rural, low-income residents are less well understood, and participants who cannot be easily recruited online are largely...

When you see the President or other politicians use terms like “animals” or, even worse, “infestation” (a term usually reserved for insects), they are engaging in dehumanization. People use dehumanization to justify greed, violence, and abuse. Although dehumanization is most associated with right-wing nationalism, others sometimes use dehumanizing...

Many forms of victimization, including bullying and property crime, are increasingly moving online, but most studies of poly-victimization still primarily focus on in-person crime and violence. Few studies have examined the importance of incorporating technology-based victimizations for assessing the true burden of violence. The purpose of this stu...

Although there is increasing knowledge about strengths and coping across the lifespan, less is known about “turning point” moments in an individual’s life. Current literature on turning points often focuses on turning points in relation to criminal behavior and recidivism, in the transition from adolescence to adulthood, or within specific relation...

OBJECTIVE: To explore and confirm measures of the theorized three-facet model of Meaning in Life, comprised of Purpose in Life, Mattering (or Significance), and Coherence (or Comprehension). METHOD: Residents of rural communities in the southeastern United States (N = 357). Five measures were included in the analysis; these were a 6-item Purpose i...

Predictability in a child's environment is a critical quality of safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments, which promote wellbeing and protect against maltreatment. Research has focused on residential mobility's effect on this predictability. This study augments such research by analyzing the impact of an instability index-including t...

For many years, an overly “siloed” approach has hampered efforts to understand violence and minimize the societal burden of violence and victimization. This article discusses the limitations of an overly specialized approach to youth violence research, which has focused too much on violence in particular contexts, such as the family or the school....

This special issue on drugging presents five articles that make important contributions to this still emerging literature. Although historical incidents of drugging, which is the nonconsensual administration of psychoactive substances, have been documented for decades, scientific scholarship on this phenomenon is relatively new. These articles prov...

Existing research on technology in rural, low-income communities has focused primarily on financial obstacles and lack of infrastructure. We use a sociocultural framework for understanding technology in rural Appalachia, using a mixed-methods study of focus groups and interviews. Eight focus groups were held with a total of 65 people (58% female) f...

Introduction: Official data sources do not provide researchers, practitioners, and policy makers with complete information on physical injury from child abuse. This analysis provides a national estimate of the percentage of children who were injured during their most recent incident of physical abuse. Methods: Pooled data from three cross-sectio...

People derive meaning in life from a wide variety of sources, but little is known about how patterns of meaning making vary across individuals. The current study examined age and gender patterns in seven measures of meaning: sense of purpose, optimism, religious or spiritual involvement, family care, morals and ethical standards, self-oriented, and...

To encourage healthy development in children and youth, a better understanding is needed of how exposure to violence and victimization is situated within broader risk contexts as well as those that may be protective or encourage resilience (Merrick, Leeb, and Lee, 2013; Turner, 2010; Turner, Finkelhor, and Ormrod, 2006). This bulletin describes the...

The number of children and adolescents affected by firearm violence are staggering. To help you better understand the public health impact, order this print compendium of AAP editor-curated articles with quick access to the latest most salient studies. https://shop.aap.org/pediatric-collections-firearm-related-injuries-and-preventions-paperback/

Purpose: To determine the prevalence of youth exposure to medication or pill overdose by someone close to them, as well as how common this is within the spectrum of major stressful events and child victimization experienced by youth. Design and methods: Data were collected as part of the Third National Survey of Children's Exposure to Violence,...

This study examines the role of several resilience resources in the relationship between lifetime victimization and mental health problems among adolescents in care. The sample comprised 127 adolescents (53.% females, aged 12-17 years) from residential care facilities in Catalonia, Spain. The Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire, the Youth Self-Rep...

Summary: The authors review existing knowledge about strengths-based approaches for boys and men of color. The broader goal is to contribute to the development of a research, program, and policy agenda based on the current state of scientific knowledge regarding the causes and appropriate interventions for violence, and the most effective ways to p...

Objective: Interest in protective factors for adversity has burgeoned, but the set of examined protective factors remains limited and most studies have focused on a single or narrow set of adversities. Using the resilience portfolio model as a conceptual framework, this study seeks to identify promising protective factors for individuals exposed to...

This study compares children and youth who have experienced lifetime war-related parental absence or deployment with those having no such history on a variety of victimization types, non-victimization adversity, trauma symptoms, and delinquency; and assesses whether cumulative adversity and victimization help to explain elevated emotional and behav...

Interpersonal strengths, such as family well-being and community support, are important protective factors and help individuals cope with adversity (Grych et al., 2015). Previous research primarily focuses on physical and psychological victimization in the “offline world,” though more recently, the literature has expanded to include cyberbullying a...

Purpose: Cyberbullying has increasingly become a subject of study; however, research on other types of online victimization, particularly information theft or monetary loss, is relatively scarce. Furthermore, few studies examine the efficacy of safety practices thought to reduce the risk of digital victimization. The objective of this study is to e...

Interpersonal relationships are key sources of support and other resources during childhood (Feeney & Collins, 2014; Grych et al., 2015; Turner et al., 2015). Many measures of social support and other aspects of interpersonal relationships exist, but few have been carefully adapted for youth and even less guidance is available about how to talk abo...

This 20x20 assesses the current state of knowledge about elder abuse and mistreatment, focusing on the lack of incorporation of all forms of elder victimization and the benefits of a poly-victimization framework. This review also includes existing knowledge on risk factors and calls for a greater focus on protective factors and a greater inclusion...

Accurate definitions of phenomena are essential to any scientific enterprise. A definition of violence should be fully capable of accounting for the exclusion of behaviors such as accidents and self-defense, and the inclusion of behaviors such as child abuse, sexual offenses, and manslaughter. Violence research has produced numerous and sometimes c...

Attachment to parental figures, romantic partners, and friends is important when considering interpersonal strengths and what makes an individual resilient. During adolescence and young adulthood, individuals display attachment behaviors to their parents or caregivers, such as seeking their parental figure when upset or threatened. As a child ages,...

Objective: Little attention has been directed toward how rural populations experience online victimizations. This study explores the range of online victimizations, including online-theft and cyberbullying, and how these experiences affect participants in rural Appalachia. Method: Our sample included 478 individuals (57.1% female), with an average...

Purpose: This systematic narrative literature review covers violence prevention/intervention programming for boys and men of color (BMoC). The review categorizes strength-based intervention and prevention programs and protective factors articles in an effort to reveal strengths and weaknesses of existing programs and to demonstrate promising direct...

Leisure and social activities have been positively correlated with subjective well-being and life satisfaction (Newman, Tay, & Diener, 2013; Kelly, Steinkamp, & Kelly, 1987). Although leisure has also been recognized as an important coping strategy, less is known about the specific forms of leisure that youth use to cope with adversity and especial...

Objective: Social support is well-known to be beneficial to youth, but less is understood about the ways that social support affects youth. This study explores the ways that adolescents depend on social resources from family, non-parental adults, and peers, and the way that key relationships serve as motivation to self-regulate and excel. Methods:...

Research documents how exposure to adversity in childhood leads to negative health outcomes across the lifespan. Less is known about protective factors – aspects of the individual, family, and community that promote good health despite exposure to adversity. Guided by the Resilience Portfolio Model, this study examined protective factors associated...

Objective: During tough times, many individuals seek comfort by “venting” or disclosing their narrative to others as a way of emotional processing (Lutgendorf & Antoni; 1999). A narrative is a written or spoken account that can be used to describe important life events and beliefs conceptualized as central to the sense of self (Adler, 2012; Burton...

A task force of experts was convened by the American Psychological Association (APA) to update the knowledge and policy about the impact of violent video game use on potential adverse outcomes. This APA Task Force on Media Violence examined the existing literature, including the meta-analyses in the field, since the last APA report on media violenc...

Three trends in violence research hold promise for advancing to the second wave of violence scholarship and practice. The first is the recognition of the web of violence, or the interconnectedness among all forms of violence and abuse. We should focus on the cumulative burden of violence exposure, not just specific types of violence. The second is...

This study examined the prevalence and characteristics of family abduction episodes occurring in a nationally representative sample of US children ages 0–17. It drew on the experiences of 13,052 children and youth from the aggregation of three cross-sectional waves (2008, 2011, and 2014) of the National Surveys of Children Exposed to Violence. The...

Self-regulation is the ability to maintain physiological, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral control, particularly during times of adversity and distress. Although it has been a popular research topic, relatively few studies have included adolescents and adults in the same sample without large age gaps between the 2 groups. This study uses cross-...

It is often said that intimate partner violence (IPV) happens “behind closed doors”; however, research on IPV and other crimes suggests that witnesses are sometimes present. This suggests that bystanders may be in a position to help victims or potential victims of violence. Bystander behavior has been studied primarily in school settings, and conse...

This article provides an overview of the status of research on elder mistreatment among underserved populations in the United States, including gaps in our current knowledge base, scientific and structural barriers to growing research on the exploitation, neglect, and abuse of older people from diverse and disadvantaged ethnic/racial, geographic, s...

This literature review assesses the current state of knowledge about elder abuse and mistreatment, focusing on the lack of incorporation of all forms of elder victimization and the benefits of a poly-victimization framework. This review also includes existing knowledge on risk factors and calls for a greater focus on protective factors and a greate...