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。在过去的十年里，被寄养的青少年数量几乎翻了一番。大量研究证明，这些青少年有可能出现严重问题，包括吸毒、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“漂流”以及无家可归。然而，关于干预措施的特点的研究很少，这些干预措施可用于指导改善对这一弱势青少年群体的服务。本研究扩展了我们之前对青少年严重行为和情绪问题的研究，以及对寄养的小学年龄儿童的研究，以测试对圣地亚哥县儿童福利系统寄养和亲属照顾的青少年进行预防性干预的有效性。240名青少年和他们的寄养/亲属照顾提供者将参与（即，60人接受寄养/亲属父母培训，60人接受父母培训加青少年技能培训，120人接受“一如既往”的个案工作对照）。除了测试两种干预水平的有效性外，我们还建议检查干预对一组育儿和青少年变量的影响，这些变量有望调节近期和长期青少年行为和健康相关结果的变化水平。要测试的父母调解包括积极的父母养育，父母监督和非严厉的纪律。青少年调解者是社会能力、对学校的承诺和对与健康危险行为有关的规范的知识，包括物质使用和高风险的性行为。此外，研究还将对早期风险/逆境因素对青少年结果的影响进行理论假设，并进行经济分析，以检验与两种干预水平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.