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Resilience Among Older Adolescents in Foster Care: the Impact of Risk and Protective Factors

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Abstract

This study explores the phenomenon of resilience among older adolescents in foster care. Data from 351 youths approaching the age of emancipation were examined. Resilience was measured by a composite score combining six domains: educational attainment, and avoidance of teen pregnancy, homelessness, mental illness, substance use and criminal involvement. Increased physical abuse, a history of sexual abuse, placement instability and delinquency in youths’ original families were associated with lower resilience. Non-white race was associated with higher resilience even after risk and protective factors were controlled. These findings highlight factors that contribute to resilient functioning and may be targeted for interventions promoting competence among these high-risk youth.

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Notes

  1. The dataset archived with the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect (NDACAN) contained data on 404 participants only.

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Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the Chair of my dissertation committee, Dr. Kathleen Pottick, as well as members of the committee, Drs. Cassandra Simmel, N. Andrew Peterson and Julie Phillips for their constructive feedback on earlier versions of this project.

The data used in this publication were made available by the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, and have been used with permission. Data from Mental Health Service Use Of Youth Leaving Foster Care (Voyages) 2001–2003 were originally collected by Curtis McMillen, Lionel D Scott and Wendy Fran Auslander. Funding for the project was provided by the National Institute of Mental Health (Award Number: 1R01 MH 61404). The collector of the original data, the funder, NDACAN, Cornell University and their agents or employees bear no responsibility for the analyses or interpretations presented here.

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Correspondence to Svetlana Shpiegel.

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Shpiegel, S. Resilience Among Older Adolescents in Foster Care: the Impact of Risk and Protective Factors. Int J Ment Health Addiction 14, 6–22 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-015-9573-y

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