Blakeslee Jennifer, Kothari Brianne H, McBeath Bowen, Sorenson Paul, Bank Lew
Portland State University.
Oregon State University.
Child Youth Serv Rev. 2017 Feb;73:173-181. doi: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2016.12.002. Epub 2016 Dec 7.
Though the presence, composition, and quality of social relationships-particularly as found in family networks-has an important influence on adolescent well-being, little is known about the social ecology of youth in foster care. This study examined the social networks of foster youth participating in a large RCT of an intervention for siblings in foster care. Youth reported on the people they lived with and the relatives they were in contact with, which provided indicators of network size, composition, and relationship quality. Cluster analysis was used to identify five family network profiles for youth living in foster homes. Two identified subgroups reflected robust family networks where youth were living with relative caregiver(s) and related youth, and also reported multiple family ties outside the household, including with biological parents. The remaining three profiles reflected youth reports of fewer family connections within or beyond the foster household, with distinctions by whether they lived with siblings and/or reported having positive relationships with their mothers and/or fathers. The identified network profiles were validated using youth- and caregiver-reported measures of mental health functioning, with increased caregiver report of post-traumatic stress symptoms indicated for the three subgroups that were not characterized by a robust family network.
尽管社会关系的存在、构成和质量——尤其是在家庭网络中——对青少年的幸福有着重要影响，但对于寄养青年的社会生态却知之甚少。本研究调查了参与一项针对寄养兄弟姐妹的大型随机对照试验干预的寄养青年的社会网络。青年报告了与他们同住的人和他们与之有联系的亲属，这提供了网络规模、构成和关系质量的指标。聚类分析用于识别寄养家庭中青少年的五种家庭网络概况。两个确定的亚组反映了强大的家庭网络，其中青年与亲属照顾者和相关青年住在一起，并且还报告了家庭之外的多种家庭关系，包括与亲生父母的关系。其余三种概况反映了青年报告在寄养家庭内外的家庭联系较少，根据他们是否与兄弟姐妹同住和/或报告与母亲和/或父亲有积极关系而有所不同。使用青年和照顾者报告的心理健康功能测量方法对确定的网络概况进行了验证，结果表明，在没有强大家庭网络特征的三个亚组中，照顾者报告的创伤后应激症状有所增加。
