Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Int Rev Psychiatry. 2020 May;32(3):265-271. doi: 10.1080/09540261.2020.1720622. Epub 2020 Feb 18.
Homelessness, unemployment, and food insecurity are the unfortunate reality for many young adults who age out of the foster care system. These rates remain high even for youth who participate in independent living programmes prior to exiting foster care. These high rates of poor outcomes suggest that many foster care youth are inadequately prepared to transition to adulthood. In order to improve services for youth preparing to age out of foster care, it is important to identify factors that contribute to these adverse outcomes and that could become targets of further interventions. One such factor, an underdeveloped sense of autonomy, may predispose youth to poor outcomes such as limited educational attainment, unstable housing, and unemployment. At least in Western cultures that value individualism, interventions that foster the development of autonomy during adolescence could potentially improve outcomes for youth in foster care. This article aims to review factors that promote the development of autonomy and discusses the unique barriers to autonomy development faced by youth in foster care. I conclude with several intervention strategies that could facilitate the development of autonomy in foster care youth and recommendations for future research.
无家可归、失业和粮食不安全是许多离开寄养系统的成年年轻人的不幸现实。即使是那些在离开寄养之前参加独立生活项目的年轻人，这些比率仍然很高。这些不良结果的高比率表明，许多寄养青年在过渡到成年方面准备不足。为了改善为准备离开寄养系统的青年提供的服务，重要的是要确定导致这些不良结果的因素，这些因素可能成为进一步干预的目标。其中一个因素，即自主意识不发达，可能使青年面临不良结果，例如教育程度有限、住房不稳定和失业。至少在重视个人主义的西方文化中，在青春期促进自主性发展的干预措施可能会潜在地改善寄养青年的结果。本文旨在回顾促进自主性发展的因素，并讨论寄养青年面临的自主性发展独特障碍。我最后提出了一些干预策略，可以促进寄养青年的自主性发展，并为未来的研究提出建议。
