Original articleHealth-Risk Behaviors in Young Adolescents in the Child Welfare System
Section snippets
Study design
The NSCAW study examined the characteristics, needs, and outcomes of children and families who underwent investigation for alleged abuse and neglect. For the current analysis, we chose a cross-sectional approach, investigating risk behaviors and risk and protective factors at Wave 1, approximately five months after maltreatment investigation.
Sample
NSCAW used a stratified two-stage cluster sampling strategy to select 100 primary sampling units (PSUs) from a national sampling frame, with the
Sample characteristics
The majority of youth were between the ages of 12 and 14 years (71.5%), with a mean age of 12.67 (standard error = 0.07) (see Table 2). More than half of the sample was females (57.4%). In terms of ethnicity of the respondents, half were Caucasian (50.9%), 27.1% were African American, and 16.6% were Hispanic. The most common maltreatment types were neglect (49.8%) and physical abuse (41.5%). The majority (87.8%) were living in-home; only 12.2% were in foster care at Wave 1. Approximately half
Discussion
This research contributes to the existing published data by establishing baseline rates of health-risk behaviors and associated risk and protective factors in the first national probability sample of early adolescent youth involved with child welfare. Findings should be interpreted within the context of the study's reliance on youth self-report. Specifically, validity and reliability of data obtained from youth involved in child welfare about their engagement in health-risk behaviors cannot be
Summary
Although a recent report from the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Child Abuse and Neglect and Section on Adoption and Foster Care concurs that youth with histories of maltreatment are at high risk for health-risk behaviors, current policy statements by professional and advocacy organizations regarding comprehensive evaluations for youth in foster care do not specifically highlight the assessment of risk behaviors as part of this evaluation [40]. This study affirms the critical role
Acknowledgments
This study was supported by the Charles H. Hood Foundation (Dr. Leslie, Ms. Kauten); the Administration on Children, Youth, and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (ACYF/DHHS; Grant No. 90PH0006, Dr. Leslie, Dr. James, Ms. Zhang, Ms. Monn) and NIMH Grant No. R01MH072961 (Dr. Aarons).
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Cited by (0)
The National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW) was developed under contract to RTI from the ACYF/DHHS. The information and opinions expressed herein reflect solely the position of the author(s). Nothing herein should be construed to indicate the support or endorsement of its content by ACYF/DHHS.