Abstract
Girls in foster care may face difficulties across the transition to middle school. Latent growth curve modeling was employed to examine trajectories and predictors of academic competence and aggression from and against peers for 75 girls in foster care from the end of elementary school to the 2nd year of middle school. Across the transition to middle school, academic competence increased. Poor self-regulation was associated with decreased academic competence, and higher caregiver support was associated with increased academic competence. Frequency of aggression from peers decreased across the transition, with perceived school competence predicting smaller decreases. Aggression against peers dropped initially and then increased to pretransition levels by the end of the 2nd year of middle school. Lower caregiver support was associated with higher rates of aggression against peers at the end of the 1st year of middle school. The results are discussed in terms of implications for interventions for girls in foster care.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 234-243 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Children and Youth Services Review |
| Volume | 34 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2012 Jan |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This research was supported by the following grants: MH054257 , NIMH, U.S. PHS ; and R21 DA027091, DA021424 and DA023920 , NIDA, U.S. PHS . The authors thank Priscilla Havlis for project management, Matthew Rabel and Diana Strand for editorial assistance, and the children and families who participated in the project.
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Education
- Developmental and Educational Psychology
- Sociology and Political Science