NCJ Number
225624
Journal
Residential Treatment for Children & Youth Volume: 25 Issue: 3 Dated: November 2008 Pages: 271-288
Date Published
November 2008
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This study explored the contributions of background variables, internal resource, and external resources to life satisfaction among adolescents living in residential treatment centers.
Abstract
Background variables (gender, years of residence in the center, and family status), internal resources (self-esteem), and external resources (peer, family, and significant other social support, and sense of belonging to the community) were compared to life satisfaction among adolescents living in a residential treatment center. The findings emphasize the importance of external resources for life satisfaction. A weak ego, which typifies adolescents in general, and the population of adolescents residing in residential treatment centers in particular, provides a possible explanation for the participants’ extensive use of external support sources. Additionally, findings indicate that despite the existing gaps between the family and residential settings, both are important to the adolescent. The residential center is not a substitute for family; even when the family is dysfunctional, support from family members is highly important for this population of adolescents. The findings highlight the importance of intervention that strengthens the family’s connection with the residential center. This perceptive is consistent with the therapeutic approach which requires the out-of-home setting to seek intervention strategies that involve members of the adolescents’ families even when a legal order was given to remove the adolescent from the parental home. This intervention strategy promotes the rehabilitative approach toward out-of-home placement. Data were collected from a sample of 105 adolescents aged 13 to 18 who comprised the entire population of adolescents living at 4 residential treatment centers in Israel. Tables and references