Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-c4f8m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T23:43:08.532Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Do adult emotional and behavioural outcomes vary as a function of diverse childhood experiences of the public care system?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 March 2011

A. Dregan ,
J. Brown  and
D. Armstrong
A. Dregan*
Affiliation:
Division of Primary Care and Public Health Sciences, King's College London, UK
J. Brown
Affiliation:
Department of Quantitative Social Sciences, Institute of Education, London, UK
D. Armstrong
Affiliation:
Division of Primary Care and Public Health Sciences, King's College London, UK
*
*Address for correspondence: Dr A. Dregan, Department of Primary Care and Public Health Sciences, Capital House, 42 Weston St, London SE1 3QD, UK. (Email: alexandru.dregan@kcl.ac.uk)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background

Longitudinal data from the 1970 British Cohort Study were used to examine the long-term adult outcomes of those who, as children, were placed in public care.

Method

Multivariate logistic estimation models were used to determine whether public care and placement patterns were associated with adult psychosocial outcomes. Seven emotional and behavioural outcomes measured at age 30 years were considered: depression, life dissatisfaction, self-efficacy, alcohol problems, smoking, drug abuse, and criminal convictions.

Results

The analyses revealed a significant association between public care status and adult maladjustment on depression [odds ratio (OR) 1.74], life dissatisfaction (OR 1.45), low self-efficacy (OR 1.95), smoking (OR 1.70) and criminal convictions (OR 2.13).

Conclusions

Overall, the present study findings suggest that there are enduring influences of a childhood admission to public care on emotional and behavioural adjustment from birth to adulthood. Some of the associations with childhood public care were relatively strong, particularly with respect to depression, self-efficacy and criminal convictions.

Keywords

Adult outcomesbehavioural disordercohortemotional disorderpublic care
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 41 , Issue 10 , October 2011 , pp. 2213 - 2220
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bebbington, A, Miles, J (1989). The background of children who enter local authority care. British Journal of Social Work 19, 349–368.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bohman, M, Sigvardsson, S (1980). A prospective, longitudinal study of children registered for adoption. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 61, 339–355.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bowlby, J (1980). Attachment and Loss: Vol. 3. Sadness and Depression. Basic Books: New York.Google Scholar
Buchanan, A, Brinke, T, Flouri, E (2000). Parental background, social disadvantage, public ‘care’, and psychological problems in adolescence and adulthood. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 39, 1415–1423.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Buehler, C, Orme, J, Post, J, Patterson, D (2000). Long-term correlates of family foster care. Children and Youth Services Review 22, 595–625.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cheung, SY, Buchanan, A (1997). Malaise score in adulthood of children and young people who have been in care. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 38, 575–580.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collishaw, S, Maughan, B, Natarajan, L, Pickles, A (2010). Trends in adolescent emotional problems in England: a comparison of two national cohorts twenty years apart. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 51, 885–894.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Courtney, ME, Dworsky, A, Cusick, RG, Havlicek, J, Perez, A, Keller, T (2007). Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth: Outcomes at Age 21. Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago: Chicago, IL.Google Scholar
Dixon, J (2008). Young people leaving care: health, well-being and outcomes. Child and Family Social Work 13, 207–217.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dowd, JB, Goldman, N (2006). Do biomarkers of stress mediate the relation between socioeconomic status and health? Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 60, 633–639.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fanshel, D, Shinn, EB (1978). Children in Foster Care: A Longitudinal Investigation. Columbia University Press: New York.Google Scholar
Festinger, T (1983). No One Ever Asked Us: A Postscript to Foster Care. Columbia University Press: New York.Google Scholar
Gale, CR, Martyn, CN (2004). Birth weight and later risk of depression in a national birth cohort. British Journal of Psychiatry 184, 28–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horwitz, SM, Balestracci, K, Simms, MD (2001). Foster care placement improves children's functioning. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine 155, 1255–1260.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lawrence, CR, Carlson, EA, Egeland, B (2006). The impact of foster care on development. Development and Psychopathology 18, 57–76.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mayfield, D, McLeod, G, Hall, P (1974). The CAGE Questionnaire: validation of a new alcoholism screening instrument. American Journal of Psychiatry 131, 1121–1123.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Plewis, I, Calderwood, L, Hawkes, D, Nathan, G (2004). National Child Development Study and 1970 British Cohort Study Technical Report: Changes in the NCDS and BCS70 Populations and Samples over Time. Centre for Longitudinal Studies, Institute of Education: London.Google Scholar
Power, C, Manor, O, Fox, J (1991). Health and Class: The Early Years. Chapman & Hall: London.Google Scholar
Power, C, Stansfeld, SA, Matthews, S, Manor, O, Hope, S (2002). Childhood and adulthood risk factors for socio-economic differentials in psychological distress: evidence from the 1958 British birth cohort. Social Science and Medicine 55, 1989–2004.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rutter, M, Quinton, D, Hill, J (1990). Adult outcome of institution-reared children: males and females compared. In Straight and Devious Pathways from Childhood to Adulthood ( ed. Robins, L. and Rutter, M.), pp. 135–157. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.Google Scholar
Rutter, MJ, Tizard, J, Whitmore, K (1970). Education, Health, and Behaviour. Longman: London.Google Scholar
Schofield, G (2001). Resilience and family placement: a lifespan perspective. Adoption and Fostering 25, 6–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stein, M, Carey, K (1986). Leaving Care. Blackwell: Oxford.Google Scholar
Triseliotis, J, Russell, J (1984). Hard to Place: The Outcomes of Adoption and Residential Care. Gower: London.Google Scholar
Viner, RM, Taylor, B (2005). Adult health and social outcomes of children who have been in public care: population-based study. Pediatrics 115, 894–899.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vinnerljung, B, Hjern, A, Lindblad, F (2006). Suicide attempts and severe psychiatric morbidity among former child welfare clients – a national cohort study. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 47, 723–733.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ward, J, Henderson, Z, Pearson, G (2003). One Problem Among Many: Drug Use Among Care Leavers in Transition to Independent Living. Home Office: London.Google Scholar
Zhou, X, Eckert, GJ, Tierney, WM (2001). Multiple imputations in public health research. Statistics in Medicine 20, 1541–1549.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Supplementary material: File

Dregan Supplementary Material

Dregan Supplementary Table

Download Dregan Supplementary Material(File)
File 133.6 KB