The Effect of Placement of Foster Children on the Marital Relationship of Foster Parents

The present study was conducted to ascertain if the placement of foster children has an impact on the level of marital satisfaction of foster parents. Although inconclusive, research indicates that adding a child, or children, to a biological family unit causes a significant decrease in levels of marital satisfaction. There is a paucity of published empirical research as to whether this pattern would hold true with the foster-parent relationship, after the placement of foster children in their home. Data was collected using the survey approach, in which foster parents were asked to respond to the same instrument twice, with a time interval between. The first response, the participants were to describe the marital relationship after the placement of foster children. The second response was to obtain a description of the level of marital satisfaction prior to the placement of foster children. Although the results of this base-line study were not statistically significant, there was a trend in responses that indicated the respondents perceived their marital relationship to be slightly more satisfactory before the placement of foster children, than after placement. Further research, utilizing a true experimental design, needs to be conducted to ascertain if the same pattern of impact holds true in the foster family relationship as in the biological family relationship. Several recommendations for the continuing need for research in this area of study are brought forward, as a result of this study

Handbook on Crime and Deviance

This 2nd edition of the Handbook provides an interdisciplinary coverage of new understandings of the most important developments in the sociology of crime and deviance that is current and emerging for research, methodology, practice, and theory in criminology. It fosters research to take the fields of criminology and criminal justice in new directions. Unlike any other handbook, it includes chapters on cutting-edge quantitative data and analytical techniques that are shaping the future of empirical research and expanding theoretical explanations of crime and deviance. It further devotes a section to the most current and innovative methodological issues. Chapters are updated providing an inclusive discussion of the current research and the theoretical and empirical future of crime and deviance. This handbook is of great interest for advanced undergraduates, graduates students, researchers and scholars in criminology, criminal justice, sociology and related fields, such as social welfare, economics, and psychology. Discusses current research in the sociology of crime and deviance and incorporates the author\u27s suggestions for future directions Includes chapters explaining causes of crime, from an innovative theoretical and methodological approach Offers contemporary perspectives of issues related to crime and deviance by leading scholars and researchershttps://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/criminaljusticefacbooks/1027/thumbnail.jp