Changes in Externalizing and Internalizing Problems of Adolescents in Foster Care

Using a developmental psychopathology framework, this study aimed to examine changes in externalizing and internalizing problems of adolescents in foster care and to determine whether type of maltreatment, gender, and age influenced trajectories. Authors used 3 waves of data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being. Growth-curve analyses of 106 adolescents aged 13 - 16 in foster care revealed that externalizing and internalizing problems decreased over time. Adolescents, particularly boys, placed in foster care as a result of sexual abuse, physical abuse, or neglect demonstrated faster decreases in externalizing problems and, similarly but to a weaker degree, internalizing problems than did those placed in foster care as a result of other forms of maltreatment. Key Words: adolescence, externalizing problems, foster care, growth curve, internalizing problems. Foster care is an intervention aimed to protect children experiencing adverse family conditions. The majority of children enter foster care because they have suffered abuse or neglect (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2005), and through foster care placement most youths do not experience further maltreatment (Lawrence, Carlson, & Egeland, 2006). Yet because of the negative outcomes associated with removing children from their homes, it is not uncommon to hear skepticism about the effectiveness of foster care as an intervention (Jonson-Reid & Barth, 2000; Lawrence et al., 2006). The high risk for emotional and behavioral problems among children and adolescents in foster care has long been documented (JonsonReid, 1 998; Ryan, Herz, Hernandez, & Marshall, 2007). Youths who have experienced maltreatment demonstrate significantly higher rates of externalizing and internalizing problems than do children who have not been maltreated (Tarren-Sweeny, 2008). Furthermore, findings from one study indicated that children who had been maltreated and removed from their homes experience greater rates of behavior problems than children who had been maltreated but remained in the care of their families (Ryan & Testa, 2005). Although the body of research demonstrating emotional and behavioral problems of children and adolescents in foster care is growing (Heflinger, Simpkins, & Combs-Orme, 2000), studies examining change in externalizing and internalizing problems using nationally representative samples are scarce (Ryan, Testa, & Zhai, 2008). Studying change is particularly important in understanding the longitudinal consequences of foster care. Thus, the first goal of the present study was to investigate how externalizing and internalizing problems change over time for adolescents in long-term foster care. In addition, despite evidence of greater rates of externalizing and internalizing behavior problems of children placed in foster care, few studies have examined predictors of such problems (Ryan & Testa, 2005; Tarren-Sweeny, 2008). The limited research suggests that outcomes may differ depending on the type of maltreatment a child experienced (JonsonReid & Barth, 2000; Tarren-Sweeny, 2008). In addition, the gender, age (Zima et al., 2000), and length of time a child spends in foster care may also be associated with increased emotional and behavioral problems (Leathers, 2002). Most of the current research, however, employs cross-sectional designs; therefore, it is unknown whether these predictors influence the trajectories of such problems (Clausen, Landsverk, Ganger, Chadwick, & Litrownik, 1998; Tarren-Sweeny, 2008). Thus, the second goal of the present study was to investigate how type of maltreatment before entering foster care, child gender, age, and length of time in foster care are associated with both the initial levels and changes in externalizing and internalizing problems of youths in foster care. Child maltreatment may have an overwhelming influence on child development (Cicchetti, 2004). …