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Does poor school performance cause later psychosocial problems among children in foster care? Evidence from national

Hilma Forsman1, Lars Brännström1, Bo Vinnerljung1

  • 1Department of Social Work, Stockholm University, Sweden.

Child Abuse & Neglect
|June 20, 2016
PubMed

Insights

Improving school performance in foster care children can reduce later economic hardship, drug use, and mental health issues. This research highlights school performance as a key factor for better life outcomes in young adulthood.

Area of Science:

  • Child Psychology
  • Social Work
  • Public Health

Background:

  • Children in foster care face elevated risks for adverse outcomes in adulthood.
  • Poor academic performance is a significant predictor of negative long-term consequences for these children.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the causal relationship between poor school performance in foster care children and subsequent psychosocial problems.
  • To inform the development of targeted intervention strategies for improving life trajectories of foster youth.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized longitudinal register data from over 7500 Swedish foster children (born 1973-1978).
  • Employed the potential outcomes approach with doubly robust treatment-effect estimators for causal inference.
  • Controlled for observed background attributes and potential unobserved selection biases.

Main Results:

  • Demonstrated a significant negative impact of poor school performance on later psychosocial problems (economic hardship, illicit drug use, mental health issues).
  • The estimated effects support causal interpretations, indicating that school performance directly influences adult psychosocial well-being.
  • Results remained robust after accounting for various confounding factors.

Conclusions:

  • Enhancing school performance in foster care is a promising intervention strategy.
  • Interventions focused on academic success can improve overall life chances for children in foster care.
  • Findings provide evidence-based support for policymakers and practitioners aiming to improve outcomes for foster youth.

Keywords:
Causal effectCohort studyFoster careLongitudinalSchool performance

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