ABSTRACT
This chapter will discuss the effects of exposure to violence in the home on adolescents and emerging adults. A summary of current research on the psychophysiological consequences of high stress environments, such as the exposure to family violence perpetration and victimisation, on the development of the capacity to self-regulate during adolescence and the transition to adulthood, the principle developmental window of maturation for these capacities, will presented. Findings from a recent phenomenological qualitative study will be used to demonstrate lived experiences of a wide range of adaptive self-regulation capacities and reactions to situations of high stress from a sample of family violence-exposed youth ages 15–24. Summaries of complex and dynamic ecological assessment and intervention strategies to increase flexibility and responsivity to environmental change and diversity in adaptations to across the full social ecology are described. These approaches have potential to enhance youth wellbeing and challenge pathologisation discourses about adolescent behaviour.
