Prevention Program for Problem Behaviors in Girls in Foster Care

The transition from elementary school to middle school presents a complex set of challenges
for adolescents. These include increased expectations for time management and
self-monitoring, renegotiation of rules and boundaries with parents, increased peer
influence, and pubertal changes. For children in foster care, this transition is further
complicated by issues such as a possible history of maltreatment, unpredictable changes in
their living situations, and difficulty explaining their foster care background to peers and
teachers. Such issues may be more serious for girls in foster care. Social problems for
these girls in middle school can lead to a number of negative effects, including
delinquency, substance abuse, poor school performance, mental health problems, and
participation in risky sexual behavior. Despite such risks, adolescent girls are less likely
to receive specialty mental health or school-based services than their male counterparts.
This study is aimed at determining the effectiveness of a preventive intervention for
preadolescent girls living in foster/kinship care. The intervention targets include
preventing delinquency, initiation of substance use, participation in risky sexual behavior,
school truancy and failure, and mental health problems.

Participants were randomly assigned to receive either the preventive intervention or usual
foster care services in the summer before entering middle school (typically sixth grade).
The preventive intervention consisted of weekly training and support sessions for both
participants and their foster or kin parents. The sessions began at study start and
continued throughout participants' first year in middle school. Participants' relationship
development, delinquency, school behavior and performance, sexual behavior, and substance
use were assessed through questionnaires. Parenting practices were assessed through
interviews. Assessments were conducted at study entry and at Months 6, 12, and 24, and 36. A
new, follow-up assessment on the girls' decision making was conducted at age 14-16.

Inclusion Criteria:

- Living in a foster home or receiving kinship care

- Are about to enter middle school

- Oregon resident

- Guardian willing to provide informed consent

- Female

Exclusion Criteria:

- male

- not in foster care

- not living in Oregon