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Self-esteem and psychological immune competence of young people raised in child protection care

Ildikó Erdei1, Karolina Eszter Kovács2, Erzsébet Rákó3

  • 1Doctoral Program on Educational Sciences, Doctoral School of Humanities, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary.

Frontiers in Public Health
|May 28, 2026
PubMed

Insights

Young people in child protection care benefit from stable foster care, which is linked to better psychological resilience and health behaviors compared to residential settings. Frequent placement changes negatively impact resilience.

Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Child Welfare Studies
  • Public Health

Background:

  • Psychological well-being in youth within child protection systems is influenced by care type and environment.
  • Understanding factors affecting self-esteem, psychological immune competence, and health behaviors is crucial for this population.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine self-esteem, psychological immune competence, and health behaviors in adolescents and young adults (15-25 years) in foster care versus residential care.
  • To explore associations between care characteristics, psychological factors, and health behaviors.

Main Methods:

  • Questionnaire-based data collection from 118 participants (foster care: N=57; group home: N=61) in Hajdú-Bihar County.
  • Utilized Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and junior Psychological Immune Competence Inventory.
  • Employed Mann-Whitney U test and Spearman's correlation, with adjustments for group imbalance.

Main Results:

  • Foster care showed more favorable patterns in some immunocompetence components and health behaviors, with no difference in global self-esteem.
  • Number of care placements negatively correlated with psychological resilience; duration of care positively correlated.
  • Alcohol consumption was positively associated with self-assessment, suggesting potential maladaptive coping.

Conclusions:

  • The type and stability of out-of-home care significantly impact youth psychological resilience and health behaviors.
  • Interventions should focus on promoting stable care environments and supporting individual development within child welfare systems.

Keywords:
child protection carefoster carehealth behaviourpsychological immune competenceresidential careself-esteem

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