title: The relationship between time spent living with kin and adolescent functioning in youth with a history of out-of-home placement.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Many children in the US who are court-ordered to live in out-of-home care are placed with kinship caregivers. Few studies have examined the impact of living with kin on child well-being. This study examined the relationship between length of time living with kin and indices of adolescent well-being in a cohort of children who were initially court-ordered into out-of-home care.
  
  
  METHODS
  Prospective cohort design with 148 youth, ages 7-12, who entered out-of-home care between May, 1990, and October, 1991. Seventy-five percent of those interviewed at T1 (6 months following placement) were interviewed at T2 (5 years later).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Bivariate analyses did not demonstrate significant relationships between length of time living with kin and the outcome variables. In multivariate analyses, longer length of time living with kin was related to: (1) greater involvement in risk behaviors including: delinquency (β=.22, p<.05), sexual risk behaviors (β=.31, p<.05), substance use (β=.26, p<.05), and total risk behaviors (β=.27, p<.05), and (2) poorer life-course outcomes including: Tickets/Arrests (OR=1.4, p<.05) and lower grades (β=-.24, p<.05). Time living with kin was not related to total competence, or self-destructive, internalizing, externalizing, or total behavior problems. There were trends (p<.10) for time living with kin to predict greater trauma symptomatology (β=.17) and suspensions (OR=1.1).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There were no significant bivariate findings. The multivariate findings suggested a pattern of poorer functioning for youth who spent more time living with kin. No differences were found in current symptomatology.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although findings from a single study should not dictate changes in practice or policy, the current study's findings do suggest that the field needs to conduct more methodologically sophisticated research on the impact of kinship care.
authors.affiliation: The Kempe Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Child Abuse and Neglect, Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of Colorado Denver, Aurora, USA.
authors.forename: Heather N
authors.initials: HN
authors.lastname: Taussig
authors.forename: Robert B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Clyman
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D005581:Foster Home Care; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D011446:Prospective Studies; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D012309:Risk-Taking; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires