The Association between Type of Maltreatment and Placement Instability: The Influence of Runaway and Dual System...

One of the challenges in the intervention with adolescents placed in residential care centers is to provide a stable placement. Interventions must take maltreatment experiences into account as these experiences could increase behavioral problems, such as delinquent behaviors and runaways, and possibly lead to more instability/change in placements. The current study explores whether the association between type of maltreatment (emotional, physical or sexual abuse, emotional or physical neglect) and placement instability (number of moves and environments) can be explained by the frequency of runaways and the presence of involvement with the juvenile justice system. Mediation models using self-reported and administrative data from 175 males aged 15 to 17 years placed in a residential care center under the Youth Protection Act were tested via Structural Equation Modeling. Results indicate that the association between emotional neglect severity and placement instability is explained by runaway. Interventions with adolescents presenting a history of emotional neglect, should focus on preventing runaways to reduce placement instability.