title: Emerging adulthood and leaving foster care: settings associated with mental health.
abstract: The present study examined the role of contextual support on mental health during the transition to adulthood within a vulnerable group, adolescents leaving foster care because of their age. Participants were 265 19- to 23-year-olds who retrospectively reported on 3 main contexts of emerging adulthood: housing security, educational achievement, and employment attainment in the first 2 years after leaving foster care. Mental health measured self-reported emotional distress, substance abuse, and deviancy at the time of interview. Growth Mixture Modeling empirically identified 3 latent trajectory classes. Stable-Engaged (41%) experienced secure housing and increasing connections to education and employment over time. Stable-Disengaged (30%) maintained housing but reported decreasing rates of education and small increases in employment. Instable-Disengaged (29%) experienced chronic housing instability, declined connection to education, and failed to attain employment. Stable-Engaged and Stable-Disengaged classes reported better mental health compared to the Instable-Disengaged class, indicating the importance of housing in transitioning to adulthood.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, DePaul University, Chicago, IL 60614-3504, USA. pfowler3@depaul.edu
authors.forename: Patrick J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Fowler
authors.forename: Paul A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Toro
authors.forename: Bart W
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Miles
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D005581:Foster Home Care / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D008824:Michigan; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012944:Social Support; D035862:Vulnerable Populations / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult