Preventing Behavior and Health Problems in Foster Teens

描述（由申请人提供）：美国儿童福利服务的成本估计为每年200亿美元。在过去十年中，寄养的青少年人数几乎翻了一番。许多研究表明，这些青少年很有可能出现严重问题，包括使用药物、参与危害健康的性行为、卷入少年司法系统、严重的教育问题和辍学、安置失败/寄养“漂移”和无家可归。然而，很少有研究干预措施的特点，可用于指导改善服务，这一弱势群体的青少年。这项拟议的研究扩展了我们以前的研究与青少年严重的行为和情绪问题和研究与小学年龄的儿童寄养安置在圣地亚哥县儿童福利系统的寄养和亲属照顾提供者的青少年的预防性干预的有效性测试。240名青少年及其寄养/亲属护理提供者将参加（即，60只在寄养/亲属培训条件下，60只在父母培训加青年技能培训条件下，120只在个案工作“照常”对照条件下）。除了测试两个层次的干预的有效性，我们建议检查一组的父母和青年变量，预计调解近端和长期的青年行为和健康相关的结果的变化水平的干预效果。要测试的父母调解人包括积极的父母，父母的监督，和非苛刻的纪律。青少年的中介因素是社会能力、对学校的承诺以及对危害健康行为（包括物质使用和高危性行为）相关规范的了解。此外，将研究关于早期风险/逆境因素对青年成果影响的理论假设，并进行经济分析，以研究与两个层次的干预相关的相对收益和成本。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The cost of child welfare services in the U.S. has been estimated at $20 billion per year. During the past decade the number of teenagers in foster care has nearly doubled. Numerous studies have documented that these adolescents are at high-risk for developing serious problems, including substance use, participation in health-risking sexual behaviors, involvement in the juvenile justice system, serious educational problems and school drop-out, failed placements/foster care "drift," and homelessness. Yet, there is little research on the characteristics of interventions that can be used to guide the improvement of services for this vulnerable population of youngsters. The proposed study extends our previous research with adolescents referred for serious behavioral and emotional problems and research with elementary-aged children in foster care to a test of the efficacy of a preventive intervention for adolescents placed with foster and kin care providers in the San Diego County Child Welfare System. Two hundred and forty adolescents and their foster/kin care providers will participate (i.e., 60 in a foster/kin parent training only condition, 60 in a parent training plus youth skill training condition, and 120 in a casework "as usual" control condition). In addition to testing the efficacy of the two levels of intervention, we propose to examine the effects of the intervention on a set of parenting and youth variables that are expected to mediate the level of change on proximal and longer-term youth behavioral and health-related outcomes. Parenting mediators to be tested include positive parenting, parental supervision, and non-harsh discipline. Youth mediators are social competence, commitment to school, and knowledge about norms related to health-risking behaviors including substance use and high- risk sexual behavior. In addition, theoretical hypotheses about the effects of early risk/adversity factors to youth outcomes will be examined, and an economic analysis will be conducted to examine the relative benefits and costs associated with the two levels of intervention.