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Leading protective factors for children living out of home: A literature review
Author(s) -
Zabern Anne,
Bouteyre Evelyne
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
child and family social work
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.912
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1365-2206
pISSN - 1356-7500
DOI - 10.1111/cfs.12398
Subject(s) - psychological resilience , psychology , protective factor , resilience (materials science) , developmental psychology , medicine , clinical psychology , social psychology , physics , thermodynamics
Objectives The aim of the present review is to identify the protective factors that have been highlighted in the literature as key factors for the resilience of children in care. Method A systematic review of publications has been conducted in 7 scientific databases, using 8 keyword combinations. After all of the factors described in the studies have been identified, the frequency with which each one occurred has been calculated. Results A large number of individual and environmental protective factors have been found. Seven main factors have been highlighted (positive self‐esteem; regular contact maintained with biological parents; participation in after‐school activities; investment in schooling; access to social support; warm, stable, and predictable environment; and less exposure to child abuse and trauma). Conclusion Although evidence of overriding protective factors has been found, there is clearly still a lack of research on this issue. The studies surveyed had many limitations, and more are therefore needed to confirm findings and answer the questions raised by this review.