The Mental Health of Adolescents Residing in Court-Ordered Foster Care: Findings from a Population Survey

The mental health of a representative sample of 230 adolescents residing in foster care in New South Wales, Australia, was estimated in a state-wide epidemiological survey from carer-report responses on the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and the Assessment Checklist for Adolescents (ACA). Rates of...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Child psychiatry and human development 2018-06, Vol.49 (3), p.443-451
Main Author: Tarren-Sweeney, Michael
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adolescents
Attachment
Behavior Rating Scales
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Caregivers
Check Lists
Checklist
Checklists
Child
Child & adolescent psychiatry
Child and School Psychology
Child Behavior
Child Behavior Checklist
Child, Foster - classification
Child, Foster - legislation & jurisprudence
Child, Foster - psychology
Children
Courts
Epidemiology
Female
Foster Care
Foster children
Foster Home Care - classification
Foster Home Care - legislation & jurisprudence
Health Surveys
Humans
Internalization
Internalizing disorders
Male
Mental disorders
Mental Disorders - epidemiology
Mental Health
Mental Health - statistics & numerical data
Mental health care
Mental health services
New South Wales - epidemiology
Original Article
Polls & surveys
Preadolescents
Psychiatry
Psychology
Risk assessment
Teenagers
Trauma
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The mental health of a representative sample of 230 adolescents residing in foster care in New South Wales, Australia, was estimated in a state-wide epidemiological survey from carer-report responses on the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and the Assessment Checklist for Adolescents (ACA). Rates of CBCL total problems, externalizing and internalizing scores above the borderline range cut-points were 49, 44 and 29% respectively, representing a relative risk of 3.8, 3.7 and 2.7 respectively in comparison to Australian children at large. These rates are 10–14% lower than that previously estimated for pre-adolescent Australian children in foster care. Whereas older age is associated with poorer mental health among pre-adolescent children in foster care, the present study findings suggest that this effect does not extend into adolescence. Around half of adolescents residing in foster care have mental health difficulties requiring referral to treatment services, including attachment- and trauma-related difficulties that are uncommon among clinic-referred children at large.
ISSN:0009-398X
1573-3327
DOI:10.1007/s10578-017-0763-7