Dubowitz H, Zuravin S, Starr R H, Feigelman S, Harrington D
Department of Pediatrics, University of Maryland, School of Medicine, Baltimore 21204.
J Dev Behav Pediatr. 1993 Dec;14(6):386-93.
An increasing number of children needing out-of-home care are being placed with relatives. Despite this pervasive policy, there has been scant research on children in this arrangement called kinship care. The objectives of this study were (1) to assess the behavior of children in kinship care and (2) to identify predictors of their behavior. The caregivers of 346 children in kinship care completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Background information was obtained from caregivers and caseworkers. Forty-two percent of boys and 28% of girls had overall CBCL scores in the clinical range, compared with an expected 10% in the general population. Logistic regressions revealed several variables significantly associated with behavior problems including: reason for placement, gender, race, caregiver's perception of the child, caregiver's educational level, number of contacts between caregiver and caseworker, long-term plan, and child's age. The frequent behavior problems among these high-risk children in kinship care suggest they all deserve mental health evaluations; at a minimum, periodic screening is indicated.
越来越多需要家庭外照料的儿童被安置在亲属家中。尽管这一政策普遍存在，但对于这种被称为亲属照料的安置方式下的儿童，相关研究却很少。本研究的目的是：（1）评估亲属照料中儿童的行为；（2）确定其行为的预测因素。346名亲属照料儿童的照料者完成了儿童行为量表（CBCL）。背景信息来自照料者和个案工作者。42%的男孩和28%的女孩CBCL总分处于临床范围，而一般人群的预期比例为10%。逻辑回归显示，有几个变量与行为问题显著相关，包括：安置原因、性别、种族、照料者对孩子的看法、照料者的教育水平、照料者与个案工作者的联系次数、长期计划以及孩子的年龄。这些亲属照料中的高危儿童频繁出现行为问题，表明他们都应该接受心理健康评估；至少，需要进行定期筛查。
