Traumatic events are not editable. No matter the age nor gender, trauma can occur at any given time. Unfortunately, “3 million children and adolescents experience some form of the traumatic event” (Schwarz & Perry, 1994). Children who suffer from trauma show deficits in learning and language development, which may lead to additional academic support. The problem I want to research is how traumatic events affect adolescents’ integration into society. Specifically, how substance abuse and racial/ethnic differences contribute to trauma stressors from an ecological perspective. The methodology used to conduct this study is qualitative data from past research and peer-reviewed journals. The results demonstrated that the presence of a strong relationship with friends and family, in-depth psychological interventions, exposure-based therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, and TF-CBT [trauma-focused cognitive behavior therapy] have been effective treatments for children and adolescents who suffer from trauma and substance abuse.

Cultural psychological research on the ways individuals conceptualize experiences of suffering has largely focused on cross-cultural analyses between groups from vastly different backgrounds and ideologies. Previous cross-cultural approaches provide differentiations between cultural groups and their ideologically reinforced interpretations of suffering but lack salient information on how individuals conceptualize and grow from personal suffering differently than their identified group. This study goes beyond previous cultural psychological studies to take a multicultural approach and diversify the psychology of suffering by comparing adversity experiences of minority and majority group members within the diverse culture of the United States. Understanding the suffering underrepresented individuals experience is needed due to a lack of psychology of suffering literature exploring adversity experiences for those outside the majority population (white, cisgender). Focusing on the ways minority group members conceptualize personal suffering allows for an in-depth analysis of thematic struggles for group members and facilitates the discovery of culturally characterized methods for nurturing growth from adversity. Data for this study is sourced from an experiment conducted by my PI regarding the impact of historical identity consciousness on the collectivization of personal suffering with N=81 where participants were surveyed to write about a stressful life event and prompted to consider their group identity when evaluating their stressful experience. Utilizing a thematic coding statistical analysis to interpret personal suffering narratives, we hypothesize minority (vs majority) group members will display more post-traumatic growth as a consequence of more collectivization of suffering present within their narrative writing.

In recent LGBTQ+ history, research has evaluated the affects of trauma and academic achievement which suggests resilience may have influence over queer-student performance. Across the literature, there are increasing numbers of all students seeking psychological assistance from their universities so it’s becoming more feasible to understand resilience than to eliminate risk. This inquiry examines the relationship between resilience, childhood adversity and academic success of LGBTQ+ undergraduate students in their ability to predict academic success based off university data. In efforts to better support undergraduate students, highlighting the strengths of marginalized populations is just as important as finding out in which area they need greater support and access to resources. It is hypothesized that Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual undergraduate students will have similar experiences and scores of heterosexual/cisgender undergraduate students leveraging greater academic success by comparison of those that identify as Transgender, Queer or other fluid identity. Data will be collected from participants via participant pool at a public university, using the 25-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CDRS-25); Early Trauma Inventory Self Report-Short Form (ETISR-SF) and self reported demographic information which includes undergraduate GPA. Data collection is currently in progress and expected to be completed by October 2023. This study has great implications on the avenues universities can pursue for further research. Understanding which populations are succeeding despite life-setbacks and which ones need more support gives schools information to create stronger networks for supporting their student populations.

This study identifies and implements strategies for reporting back health information about historical trauma to a community. Over 40 years ago, residents of the southside of Tucson, Arizona experienced water contamination. This experience which can be described as chronic environmental contamination was caused by military/industrial activity in the area. This led the area to become a superfund site as part of a program that aids in the cleanup of contamination. To this day, although the water has been declared safe by city officials, the contamination has remained a concern for the community (which today predominantly consists of lower-income Latinx families). Schmitt (2023) conducted a recent study that revealed significant findings related to exposed residents’ psychological/physical outcomes following the contamination. This experience takes on the form of historical trauma. Historical trauma occurs when specific groups of people experience traumatic events that may be associated with negative psychological/physical outcomes. Communicating the study's results is imperative in order to promote the community's well-being. Health information has been reported through health communication and environmental risk strategies; however, there is a lack of research on the report-back process of health information related to historical trauma. Utilizing various strategies and through collaborative efforts, we hope to identify the best practices for communicating health information. We will do this by creating a fact sheet and qualitatively gauging the community’s response to the health information being reported.