Behavioral disturbance among foster children: The role of detachment from caregivers and community institutions.

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This study explores how experiences in substitute care may be related to the development of behavioral disturbance among young adolescents in non-relative foster care. A model is defined in which placement movement, inconsistent parental visitation, group placement, and sibling separation are hypothesized to weaken caregiver attachments and other informal social controls provided by involvement in community institutions such as schools and churches. Through weakened attachments and community involvement, these experiences in care are expected to indirectly influence behavioral disturbance.
This model was tested in a random sample of 199 urban, predominantly African American, 12- and 13-year-old boys and girls who had been placed in non-relative foster care between one and eight years. Data were obtained from telephone interviews conducted at a single point in time with foster parents and caseworkers and from electronic data files maintained by the state. The primary method of data analysis was hierarchical regression analysis. Analyses included indicators of behavioral disturbance, experiences in foster care, attachments to caregivers and other adults, and involvement in community institutions. Control variables included behavioral disturbance at entry, which was assessed retrospectively by caseworkers; parental substance abuse; maternal mental illness; and demographic characteristics. Due to missing data for the behavioral disturbance at entry variable, multivariate analyses included only 106 children.
The results of this study suggest that among boys, certain types of community involvement and strong relationships with foster families and other unrelated adults are associated with less conduct disorder symptomatology. Additionally, the results are consistent with the hypothesis that placement movement and inconsistent parental visiting may indirectly affect boys' behavior problems by weakening attachments to foster families. Experiences in foster care also appear to have different associations with boys' and girls' behavioral disturbance; few significant results were obtained for girls. Given the limitations of this study's measures and its cross-sectional design, however, these results must be replicated in longitudinal research before they are accepted.