Subjective Well-Being of Children in Residential Care

Schütz, Fabiane Friedrich; Cassarino-Perez, Luciana; Córdova, Vitória Ermel

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-55601-7_3

Cited by 1 publication

(2 citation statements)

References 34 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Our findings revealed that young people in all types of care reported significantly lower mental wellbeing scores than their peers of the same age not in care. This result is consistent with findings from previous studies testing wellbeing scores using traditional methods [17][18][19]. Research shows that developmentally specific factors including parents' availability and wellbeing, family relationships and interactions, quality of care, and supportive learning environments are critical for children's wellbeing [55].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…While most young people in care in the UK report their experiences to be good [8], and report satisfaction with their life [9], there is clear evidence that those who have experienced care do not fare as well as the general population in relation to their physical health, cognitive and language skills [10], and mental health [11][12][13], which in turn can impact their development and journey to adulthood [14][15][16]. Studies have begun to investigate subjective wellbeing of children and young people in foster care in the UK [9], and foster and residential care internationally [17][18][19]. These studies have consistently identified lower levels of subjective wellbeing of those in care compared to their peers not in care, with those in residential care demonstrating the lowest levels of wellbeing.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Measurement invariance of the short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale and latent mean differences (SWEMWBS) in young people by current care status

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Purpose Studying mental wellbeing requires the use of reliable, valid, and practical assessment tools, such as the Short version of the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (SWEMWBS). Research on the mental wellbeing of children in care is sparse. The current study aims to: (1) examine the unidimensionality of SWEMWBS; (2) assess measurement invariance of SWEMWBS across children and young people in care compared to their peers not in care; and (3) investigate the latent factor mean differences between care status groups. Methods We used data from the 2017 School Health Research Network Student Health and Wellbeing (SHW) survey, completed by 103,971 students in years 7 to 11 from 193 secondary schools in Wales. The final data include a total of 2,795 participants (46% boys), which includes all children in care and a sub-sample of children not in care who completed the SWEMWBS scale fully and answered questions about their living situation. Results Confirmatory factor analysis supported the unidimensionality of SWEMWBS. The SWEMWBS is invariant across groups of young people in foster, residential and kinship care compared to children and young people not in care at configural, metric and scalar levels. Findings from latent mean comparisons showed that young people in care reported lower mental wellbeing than their peers, with those in residential care reporting the lowest scores. Conclusions Findings suggest that SWEMWBS is a valid scale for measuring differences in mental wellbeing for young people in care similar to the population.

show abstract