Sources and Types of Social Supports and Their Association with Mental Health Symptoms and Life Satisfaction Among Young Adults with a History of Out-of-Home Care

Young adults with a history of out-of-home care report poorer mental health and life satisfaction compared to non-care-experienced peers. Social support is a known protective factor for mental health. There is limited evidence, however, on the relationship between sources (e.g., family members) and types (e.g., information) of social support and mental health symptoms and life satisfaction in this population. Reporting cross-sectional survey data from 215 young adults aged 18–22 years with a history of out-of-home care, the current study conducted descriptive, bivariate, and linear regression analysis to examine the different sources and types of support young adults receive and their relation to mental health symptoms and life satisfaction. Participants had high levels of support from family members, friends, and other adults. Most participants had informational support, but less than half had consistent material support. Regression analyses demonstrated that having enough informational and material support were associated with fewer mental health symptoms. Having family support and material support were associated with greater life satisfaction. Further longitudinal research is needed to understand the trajectory between social supports and mental health functioning and life satisfactio

‘I mean family doesn't have to be mom and dad…. It's the people who are there for you. The people who are there for you when you've fallen and you can't get up’: An exploration of the meaning of family for care-experienced young people

Young people who experience out-of-home care have typically encountered difficult and / or disrupted family relationships. This article reports on a survey undertaken in the USA with 215 young adults (aged 18 and 22) who experienced out-of-home care starting in preadolescence. The paper examines responses to an open-ended interview question, “How do you define family?”. The analysis highlighted that few young people define family as confined to blood relations. More commonly, young people adopted more flexible definitions, prioritising the ‘doing’ and ‘feeling’ of family, over biological connections. Moreover, the propensity for young people to reflect on their conceptions of family and attempt to “do family” differently from what they had experienced was also evident. The findings encourage consideration of the utility of family as an important concept for child welfare practice, as positive and flexible understandings of family were imbued with a sense of agency, identity, belonging and overall well-being. Key messages (if applicable): (Summarising the main messages from the paper in up to four bullet points) 1. Care experienced young people conceptualise family in different ways 2. Care experienced young people may have ambivalent feeling about birth family and may need help to work through this. 3. Care experienced young people need opportunities to make and deepen friendships. 4. Practitioners should actively destigmatise conceptualisations of family that differ from traditional notions

Insights into turning points from the perspective of young people with out-of-home care experience: events, impact and facilitators of change

Young people with experience of out-of-home care have usually faced significant adversities whilst growing up. Adults aged 18–22 from a Western US state, who were part of a longitudinal study and originally recruited when in out-of-home care, were asked whether they had experienced a major turning point that changed the way they thought about something or how they behaved. Four in five reported having had such a turning point and the vast majority saw theirs as positive. A qualitative overview is provided of themes from these responses. Turning points were linked to actions and achievements, positive relationships and resources, and personal reflection. Reference was made to both objective and subjective change and turning points arising both from specific events and from extended processes. Some seemingly mundane events and interactions had a powerful impact. The findings suggest the on-going potential for care-experienced children and young people to have turning points, despite past adversity and current challenges. Opportunities need to be offered to support the development of agency, bolster self-esteem and aspiration, and offer reassurance, so that in the event of future adversity, care-experienced young people might have the personal resources to navigate and create meaning

ANTIGEN-SPECIFIC T-CELL FACTOR IN CELL COOPERATION: PHYSICAL PROPERTIES AND MAPPING IN THE LEFT-HAND (K) HALF OF H-2

Mouse thymus cells, educated to poly(tyrosyl,glutamyl)-polyDLalanyl--polylysyl [(T,G)-A--L], release an antigen-specific factor on brief culture in vitro. The factor cooperates with bone marrow cells in the antibody response to (T,G)-A--L in irradiated recipients. Its mol wt determined from Sephadex G100 chromatography is in the region of 50,000. The factor is removed by specific antigen-coated columns, but not by anti-immunoglobulin (anti-Fab, anti-µ, anti-Fv) adsorbents. The factor is removed by alloantisera directed against the H-2 haplotype of the strain in which it is produced. Moreover, only antisera with specificity for the K side of H-2 were successful in removing the factor activity

Sources and types of social supports and their association with mental health symptoms and life satisfaction among young adults with a history of out-of-home care

Young adults with a history of out-of-home care report poorer mental health and life satisfaction compared to non-care-experienced peers. Social support is a known protective factor for mental health. There is limited evidence, however, on the relationship between sources (e.g., family members) and types (e.g., information) of social support and mental health symptoms and life satisfaction in this population. Reporting cross-sectional survey data from 215 young adults aged 18–22 years with a history of out-of-home care, the current study conducted descriptive, bivariate, and linear regression analysis to examine the different sources and types of support young adults receive and their relation to mental health symptoms and life satisfaction. Participants had high levels of support from family members, friends, and other adults. Most participants had informational support, but less than half had consistent material support. Regression analyses demonstrated that having enough informational and material support were associated with fewer mental health symptoms. Having family support and material support were associated with greater life satisfaction. Further longitudinal research is needed to understand the trajectory between social supports and mental health functioning and life satisfaction

Sources and Types of Social Supports and Their Association with Mental Health Symptoms and Life Satisfaction among Young Adults with a History of Out-of-Home Care

Young adults with a history of out-of-home care report poorer mental health and life satisfaction compared to non-care-experienced peers. Social support is a known protective factor for mental health. There is limited evidence, however, on the relationship between sources (e.g., family members) and types (e.g., information) of social support and mental health symptoms and life satisfaction in this population. Reporting cross-sectional survey data from 215 young adults aged 18–22 years with a history of out-of-home care, the current study conducted descriptive, bivariate, and linear regression analysis to examine the different sources and types of support young adults receive and their relation to mental health symptoms and life satisfaction. Participants had high levels of support from family members, friends, and other adults. Most participants had informational support, but less than half had consistent material support. Regression analyses demonstrated that having enough informational and material support were associated with fewer mental health symptoms. Having family support and material support were associated with greater life satisfaction. Further longitudinal research is needed to understand the trajectory between social supports and mental health functioning and life satisfaction

Psychosocial Consequences of Caregiver Transitions for Maltreated Youth Entering Foster Care: The Moderating Impact of Community Violence Exposure

Youth who experience a greater number of caregiver transitions during childhood are at risk for developing a host of psychosocial problems. Although researchers have examined individual-level factors that may moderate this association, no known studies have examined the impact of community-level factors. The current study investigated whether community violence exposure (CVE) moderated the association between number of prior caregiver transitions and increases in levels of externalizing and internalizing problems for a sample of youth entering foster care. Participants included 156 youth (aged 9-11 at first assessment) removed from their homes because of maltreatment. Youth provided reports of caregiver transitions and CVE at baseline, and caregivers, teachers, and youth reported on externalizing and internalizing problems 18-22 months later. Results from hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that youth with a greater number of caregiver transitions and higher levels of CVE evidenced significant increases in levels of psychosocial problems. The results of the study are discussed in terms of their implications for child welfare services

Early parenthood for males and females with foster care experience: an exploratory study of predictive factors at entry to care during preadolescence

Youth and young adults with a history of out-of-home care are at the center of a constellation of factors associated with young parenthood, including experiences of maltreatment, caregiver and school instability, poor access to preventive health care, and high rates of mental health problems. Although correlates of early parenthood among this population have been examined, few studies have examined factors at entry to care or included males when examining young parenthood. This study explores early predictors of parenthood among a sample of young adults (N = 206), ages 18 to 22, who were enrolled in the Fostering Healthy Futures study between the ages of 9–11 following recent removal from their homes. At baseline, youth and their caregivers were interviewed and child welfare records were coded, providing data on child welfare and family factors, children’s school functioning, mental health, relationships, attitudes and appraisals. These indices were examined to determine whether they were related to parenthood status at the young adult interview. A family risk variable that included indicators for single parenthood, maternal substance use, criminal activity and violence was the strongest predictor, but moral-legal maltreatment (i.e., exposing children to illegal activities), school and living instability, and self-worth were also significant predictors over and above the demographic control variables. The discussion critically considers the findings and potential consequences of the results for young people in care with input from consultation sessions with an advisory group of parents possessing a collective wealth of relevant experience, including young parenthood and out-of-home care placement. Implications for child welfare intervention are discussed

The Moderating Effect of Risk Exposure on an Efficacious Intervention for Maltreated Children

The current study extends research on the impact of the Fostering Healthy Futures program (Taussig & Culhane, 2010), a 9-month mentoring and skills group preventive intervention for maltreated children, by examining whether the effect of Fostering Healthy Futures is moderated by children’s baseline risk exposure (i.e., number of adverse childhood experiences). Participants included 156 racially and ethnically diverse children (ages 9–11, 50.7% female) recently placed in foster care due to maltreatment who were randomized to intervention or control conditions. Baseline and 6-month postintervention measures included a multi-informant index of mental health functioning and youth-reported symptoms of posttraumatic stress, dissociation, coping skills, social-acceptance, global self-worth, social support, and quality of life. A previously published, empirically derived risk index was used to assess level of exposure to 6 adverse childhood experiences (i.e., physical abuse, sexual abuse, removal from a single parent household, high level of exposure to community violence, and high numbers of caregiver and school transitions). Significant Intervention × Risk interactions were observed in regression models predicting 6-month postintervention symptoms of posttraumatic stress (β = .38, p \u3c .001) and dissociation (β = .30, p \u3c .01). Among children with low to moderate levels of risk, intervention participants evidenced fewer symptoms, whereas intervention participants with high levels of risk did not differ from the control group. The results of this study suggest that maltreated children exposed to high numbers of adverse childhood experiences may not experience the same reduction in trauma symptoms postintervention relative to children exposed to fewer adversities