Singh A, Gudiño Omar G
Clinical Child Psychology Program, University of Kansas, Dole Human Development Center.
J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol. 2024 Sep-Oct;53(5):796-810. doi: 10.1080/15374416.2022.2062760. Epub 2022 May 12.
Black and Latinx youth are more likely to be placed into foster care compared to non-Latinx white youth. Foster care placement can facilitate mental health service use, yet youth from marginalized and oppressed racial and ethnic groups in foster care are still less likely to receive mental health services compared to non-Latinx white youth. This study aims to examine this discrepancy Black and Latinx youth face by testing (a) whether mental health need moderates the relationship between race or ethnicity and foster care placement and (b) whether race or ethnicity moderates the relationship between foster care placement and mental health service use. Data come from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW II), a longitudinal national probability study of youth in contact with the child welfare system. Internalizing need was associated with a decreased likelihood of foster care placement for non-Latinx white youth compared to those with no need; findings showed the opposite for Latinx youth. Race and ethnicity did not significantly moderate the relationship between foster care placement and mental health service use, although predicted probabilities suggest that differences in mental health service use were more pronounced for Black and Latinx youth in in-home and kinship care compared to non-kinship foster care. Results suggest that despite main effects of race and ethnicity on foster care placement and mental health service use, discrepancies across these outcomes are not explained by race and ethnicity alone. Findings highlight the need to comprehensively examine predictors together, rather than separately, when assessing foster care care placement and mental health service use. A multi-pronged approach is outlined for child welfare reform.
与非拉丁裔白人青年相比，黑人青年和拉丁裔青年更有可能被安置在寄养机构。寄养安置有助于心理健康服务的使用，但与非拉丁裔白人青年相比，寄养机构中处于边缘化和受压迫种族及族裔群体的青年获得心理健康服务的可能性仍然较低。本研究旨在通过检验以下两点来考察黑人青年和拉丁裔青年面临的这种差异：(a)心理健康需求是否调节种族或族裔与寄养安置之间的关系；(b)种族或族裔是否调节寄养安置与心理健康服务使用之间的关系。数据来自全国儿童和青少年福利调查(NSCAW II)，这是一项对与儿童福利系统有接触的青年进行的全国性纵向概率研究。与没有内化需求的非拉丁裔白人青年相比，有内化需求的非拉丁裔白人青年被安置在寄养机构的可能性降低；研究结果显示拉丁裔青年的情况则相反。种族和族裔并没有显著调节寄养安置与心理健康服务使用之间的关系，尽管预测概率表明，与非亲属寄养相比，在家照顾和亲属寄养中的黑人和拉丁裔青年在心理健康服务使用方面的差异更为明显。结果表明，尽管种族和族裔对寄养安置和心理健康服务使用有主要影响，但这些结果的差异并不能仅由种族和族裔来解释。研究结果强调，在评估寄养安置和心理健康服务使用时，需要综合而非分别考察预测因素。本文概述了儿童福利改革的多管齐下方法。
