The Foster Care Experience And Regulation Of Behavior And Emotion
Date
2016-05
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
Children in foster care are at risk for emotional and behavioral regulation
issues (Armsden, Pecora, Payne, & Szatkiewicz, 2000; McIntyre & Keesler, 1986).
This may be because of the experience of foster care itself, which often includes
unsafe environments and many transitions (Harden, 2004, Newton, Litrownik &
Lansverk, 2000). While the current literature has found associations between selfregulation
and specific elements of foster care (Lewis, Dozier, Ackerman &
Sepulveda-Kozakowski, 2007; Newton, Litrownik & Lansverk, 2000; Oosterman,
Schuengel, Bullens & Doreleijers, 2007), to date no study has used an observational
measure of regulation or looked at traumatic reasons for removal. The current study
examined associations between observed emotional and behavioral regulation in
young foster children and their experiences in foster care. Documented experiences in
foster care included age removed from biological parents, number of placements, time
in current placement, permanency of placement, kinship caregiving, and traumatic
reasons for removal from biological parents. Significant associations were found
between all of the aforementioned foster care experiences and emotional and
behavioral regulation abilities. The findings of this study indicate that factors
contributing to a more unstable and traumatic experience in foster care are associated
with poor ability to regulate emotion and behavior.
Description
Keywords
foster care, regulation of behavior, psychology