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Emerging Adulthood and Leaving Foster Care: Settings Associated with Mental Health
Author(s) -
Fowler Patrick J.,
Toro Paul A.,
Miles Bart W.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
american journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.113
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1573-2770
pISSN - 0091-0562
DOI - 10.1007/s10464-010-9401-2
Subject(s) - mental health , health psychology , foster care , psychology , educational attainment , substance abuse , distress , young adult , latent growth modeling , developmental psychology , clinical psychology , public health , psychiatry , medicine , nursing , economics , economic growth
Abstract The present study examined the role of contextual support on mental health during the transition to adulthood within a vulnerable group, adolescents leaving foster care because of their age. Participants were 265 19‐ to 23‐year‐olds who retrospectively reported on 3 main contexts of emerging adulthood: housing security, educational achievement, and employment attainment in the first 2 years after leaving foster care. Mental health measured self‐reported emotional distress, substance abuse, and deviancy at the time of interview. Growth Mixture Modeling empirically identified 3 latent trajectory classes. Stable‐Engaged (41%) experienced secure housing and increasing connections to education and employment over time. Stable‐Disengaged (30%) maintained housing but reported decreasing rates of education and small increases in employment. Instable‐Disengaged (29%) experienced chronic housing instability, declined connection to education, and failed to attain employment. Stable‐Engaged and Stable‐Disengaged classes reported better mental health compared to the Instable‐Disengaged class, indicating the importance of housing in transitioning to adulthood.