Perceived Social Environment and Adolescents' Well-Being and Adjustment: Comparing a Foster Care Sample With a Matched Sample

• NCJ Number: 214983
• Journal: Journal of Youth and Adolescence Volume: 35 Issue: 3 Dated: June 2006 Pages: 349-358
• Author(s): Susan P. Farruggia; Ellen Greenberger; Chuansheng Chen; Jutta Heckhausen
• Date Published: June 2006
• Length: 10 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: Soc for the Psychological Study of Social Issues; University of California, Irvine; Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Ctr
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study compared the well-being and adjustment of 163 youth in foster care with a matched sample of 163 youth not in foster care.

Abstract

Consistent with previous research, the foster-care youth had lower grades in school than nonfoster-care youth. The foster-care youth also reported lower education goals and expectations. Contrary to researchers' hypothesis, however, foster-care youth did not differ from the comparison group on levels of depressed mood, self-esteem, and problem behavior; and foster-care youth had higher levels of work orientation. Compared to the matched sample, foster-care youth perceived having better social interactions with significant nonparental adults (VIPs) and peer friends, but poorer relationships with their biological parents. The authors advise that these differences in social environment may have offset one another and resulted in similar levels of psychological well-being for the two groups of youth. Regression analyses further showed that social environments were linked to selected adolescent outcomes, with nonparental VIPs being especially important for the social adjustment of the foster-care youth. In order to overcome the limitations of previous similar studies, the current study examined the well-being and adjustment of foster-care youth prior to their transition from foster care to independence. Participants were 163 youth (46 percent male and 54 percent female) who could be matched with an available comparison sample on key demographic variables. Participants were in the protective care of the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services and lived in a variety of foster-care settings. The comparison sample consisted of 163 high-school students from 4 Los Angeles-area high schools. They were selected from a larger sample of 1,183 youth from another study and matched to the foster-care sample on age, gender, and ethnicity. 5 tables and 33 references