Date of Award
Spring 4-15-2026
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Psychology
First Advisor
John Grych
Second Advisor
Gabriel Velez
Third Advisor
Lindsay Holly
Abstract
Adolescent trauma exposure is prevalent and associated with a range of negative developmental outcomes. However, some youth demonstrate resilience. Emotional awareness, a foundational component of emotion regulation, may play a role in promoting adaptive functioning following adversity, though its contribution to resilience in trauma-exposed adolescents remains unclear. The present study examined whether emotional awareness is associated with multiple domains of resilience including prosocial behavior, self-efficacy to handle conflict, perceived resilience, and emotional and conduct problems, after accounting for trauma exposure. Participants were 36 adolescents enrolled in a support program for at-risk youth. Data were obtained from youth-report measures of trauma exposure, emotional awareness, and psychosocial functioning, as well as parent-report measures of psychosocial functioning. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that trauma exposure was significantly associated with lower emotional awareness and reduced self-efficacy in handling conflict. However, contrary to hypotheses, emotional awareness was not significantly associated with any resilience outcomes after controlling for trauma exposure. These findings suggest that while trauma may disrupt emotional processes and perceived coping abilities, emotional awareness alone may be insufficient to promote resilience in adolescents. Limitations, including small sample size and limited statistical power, may have contributed to the largely non-significant findings. Future research should examine these relationships in larger, more diverse samples and consider longitudinal designs to better understand the role of emotional awareness in fostering resilience following trauma.