Caregiver emotional support, optimism, and trauma symptoms among adolescents waiting for treatment after disclosing sexual abuse.

OBJECTIVE

It is common for adolescents who recently disclosed sexual abuse to report significant levels of trauma symptoms. Many experience improvement in these symptoms shortly thereafter, even without formal intervention, but little is known about why this happens. This study examines whether adolescent perceptions of caregiver emotional support and adolescent optimism relate to trauma symptoms among adolescents who are on a wait-list for treatment after having disclosed sexual abuse.

METHOD: Participants were 223 adolescents who experienced sexual abuse (98% female; Mage = 13.49 years; 52.9% identified as Hispanic/Latine). All participated in a screening assessment at a Children's Advocacy Center and were then placed on a wait-list for treatment. Adolescents reported on caregiver emotional support, optimism, and trauma symptoms at the screening assessment (T1). They reported on trauma symptoms again prior to the initiation of treatment (T2).

RESULTS

Caregiver emotional support was positively related to adolescent optimism (r = .25, p < .001). In a regression analysis, after controlling for T1 trauma symptoms, adolescent age and sex, and time on wait-list, adolescent optimism was related to T2 trauma symptoms, β = -.15, t(217) = -2.65, p = .009; caregiver emotional support was not.

CONCLUSIONS

Understanding adolescent optimism among adolescents who have been sexually abused may have predictive value and implications for interventions for youth who are reporting trauma symptoms after experiencing sexual abuse. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).