Thought Problems and Aggression Over Time Among Youth in Foster Care

BACKGROUND: Youth in foster care may demonstrate high levels of aggression and thought problems. There is a growing trend to consider mental health symptoms of youth involved with the foster care system from a developmental trauma perspective. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to test if trauma,...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Farley, Tatjana M., McWey, Lenore M., Ledermann, Thomas
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer US 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8479267/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34602805
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10566-021-09652-y
_version_ 1784576216441815040
author Farley, Tatjana M.
McWey, Lenore M.
Ledermann, Thomas
author_facet Farley, Tatjana M.
McWey, Lenore M.
Ledermann, Thomas
author_sort Farley, Tatjana M.
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Youth in foster care may demonstrate high levels of aggression and thought problems. There is a growing trend to consider mental health symptoms of youth involved with the foster care system from a developmental trauma perspective. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to test if trauma, race, age, and gender predicted variability in thought problems and aggression for youth in foster care. METHOD: The sample (n = 303) included youth in out-of-home placements with a mean age of 14 years, a diverse racial demographic, and almost an equal percentage of males and females. Participants were assessed over three waves using a series of multilevel growth curve models. RESULTS: Results indicated significant decreases in thought problems and aggression and youth with higher levels of trauma reported higher initial levels and swifter decreases of both thought problems and aggression over time. CONCLUSIONS: While trauma was associated with aggression and thought problems, results found that youth demonstrated significant decreases in aggression and thought problems over time. A better understanding of the long-term effects of trauma on thought problems and aggression of youth in foster care is needed. While our findings suggest foster care may be protective in fostering resilience, additional research on the nature of potential positive effects of foster care on aggression and thought problems is suggested.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8479267
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher Springer US
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-84792672021-09-29 Thought Problems and Aggression Over Time Among Youth in Foster Care Farley, Tatjana M. McWey, Lenore M. Ledermann, Thomas Child Youth Care Forum Original Paper BACKGROUND: Youth in foster care may demonstrate high levels of aggression and thought problems. There is a growing trend to consider mental health symptoms of youth involved with the foster care system from a developmental trauma perspective. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to test if trauma, race, age, and gender predicted variability in thought problems and aggression for youth in foster care. METHOD: The sample (n = 303) included youth in out-of-home placements with a mean age of 14 years, a diverse racial demographic, and almost an equal percentage of males and females. Participants were assessed over three waves using a series of multilevel growth curve models. RESULTS: Results indicated significant decreases in thought problems and aggression and youth with higher levels of trauma reported higher initial levels and swifter decreases of both thought problems and aggression over time. CONCLUSIONS: While trauma was associated with aggression and thought problems, results found that youth demonstrated significant decreases in aggression and thought problems over time. A better understanding of the long-term effects of trauma on thought problems and aggression of youth in foster care is needed. While our findings suggest foster care may be protective in fostering resilience, additional research on the nature of potential positive effects of foster care on aggression and thought problems is suggested. Springer US 2021-09-29 2022 /pmc/articles/PMC8479267/ /pubmed/34602805 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10566-021-09652-y Text en © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2021 This article is made available via the PMC Open Access Subset for unrestricted research re-use and secondary analysis in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for the duration of the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic.
spellingShingle Original Paper
Farley, Tatjana M.
McWey, Lenore M.
Ledermann, Thomas
Thought Problems and Aggression Over Time Among Youth in Foster Care
title Thought Problems and Aggression Over Time Among Youth in Foster Care
title_full Thought Problems and Aggression Over Time Among Youth in Foster Care
title_fullStr Thought Problems and Aggression Over Time Among Youth in Foster Care
title_full_unstemmed Thought Problems and Aggression Over Time Among Youth in Foster Care
title_short Thought Problems and Aggression Over Time Among Youth in Foster Care
title_sort thought problems and aggression over time among youth in foster care
topic Original Paper
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8479267/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34602805
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10566-021-09652-y
work_keys_str_mv AT farleytatjanam thoughtproblemsandaggressionovertimeamongyouthinfostercare
AT mcweylenorem thoughtproblemsandaggressionovertimeamongyouthinfostercare
AT ledermannthomas thoughtproblemsandaggressionovertimeamongyouthinfostercare