264414 Health Disparities in Foster Children: Social Support Mediates Violent and Sexual Behavior

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Erik Buchholz, BA , Department of Psychology, University of California, Merced, Merced, CA
Background: Given that foster children are more prone to risky behaviors, this study seeks to determine whether foster children are more likely to engage in violent and sexual behavior than the general population, if they have less social support, and if social support mediates these risky behaviors.

Design. Linear regression analyses of National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health were performed. Waves I-III (1994-1995; 1996; 2001-2002, respectively) collected data from in-school surveys and in-home interviews in the United States, beginning in grades 7-12. Sampling methods used systematic sampling and stratified high school selection.

Participants. The 61 foster children with complete data (61% female) were compared with a random sample of 61 participants (64% female) from the available dataset (N=4,882).

Measures. Sexual behavior measures included number of sexual partners, age of first sex, and condom use. Violence measures included property damage, physical fights, and knife use. Social support measures included level of care felt from others.

Results. After controlling for age, race, and gender, foster children were more likely to engage in physical fights (p<.05) and knife violence (p<.05), as well as engage in sex at an earlier age (p<.05 ). They also had less social support (p<.01). Lastly, social support mediated age of first sex and violent knife behavior.

Conclusion. Social support is an important predictor of sexual behavior and violence. Foster children show lower levels of social support and greater violence than other children. This suggests that interventions that increase social support may be particularly effective in reducing adverse behaviors.

Learning Areas:
Epidemiology
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
(1) Evaluate whether foster children are more likely to engage in violence (at Wave II) and sexual behavior (at Wave III) than the general population. (2) Demonstrate that foster children have less social support than the rest of the population (at Wave I). (3) Analyze whether social support mediates violent and sexual behavior.

Keywords: Violence, Sexual Risk Behavior

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been the principal investigator on this data analysis. I ran all the analyses, and I found all the proper background material to explain the context in which the analyses would be relevant. I am currently working on other studies that will help foster children alter violent behaviors, as well.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 4170.0: Social and Behavioral Epidemiology Poster Session