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Katharine M. Filbert School of Psychology

Resilience in Aboriginal Children and Adolescents in Out-of-Home Care: A Test of an Initial Explanatory Model. Katharine M. Filbert School of Psychology Centre for Research on Educational and Community Services (CRECS) University of Ottawa, ON, Canada. Presentation Overview.

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Katharine M. Filbert School of Psychology

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  1. Resilience in Aboriginal Children and Adolescents in Out-of-Home Care:A Test of an Initial Explanatory Model Katharine M. Filbert School of Psychology Centre for Research on Educational and Community Services (CRECS) University of Ottawa, ON, Canada

  2. Presentation Overview • Background Information: • Aboriginal children and adolescents • Resilience • Developmental assets • High levels of functioning • Methodology • Results • Implications • Limitations • Future Research

  3. Aboriginal Children and Adolescents • 30-40% (80,000) of young people in foster care in Canada • < 5% (27,000) of the general youth population (Gough, Trocmé, Brown, Knoke, & Blackstock, 2005) • Have heightened risks

  4. Resilience • Positive adaptation during or following adversity or serious threats to development • Inferred from judgments about: • quality of an individual’s functioning or development • exposure to a threat to functioning or development • Not a personality trait or attribute

  5. Developmental Assets(http://www.search-institute.org/assets/) • 40 developmental assets organized into eight categories and further divided into external and internal factors: • External assets: • Support • Empowerment • Boundaries and Expectations • Constructive Use of Time • Internal assets: • Commitment to Learning • Positive Values • Social Competencies • Positive Identity

  6. Comparison of Average Number of Developmental Assets Per Youth • In United States (Search Institute sample): 18 • In Canada (OnLAC sample): 27.5 • Differences between samples in: • measures • rating sources • average quality of placement homes • ratings

  7. High Levels of Functioning in Aboriginal Youth • Research has indicated that developmental assets explained 47% of the variance in high levels of functioning (Scales et al., 2000) • Important developmental assets: • other adult relationships • personal power • sense of purpose • caring • cultural competence • responsibility • valuing diversity • leadership • school success

  8. Resilience of In-Care Youth • % of youth identified as resilient varies widely within and across studies • Small to moderate number of maltreated youth are typically competent in one or more developmental tasks within at least one point in time • In general, resilient functioning is less common in maltreated children than those who have experienced other familial adversities (Legault, Anawati, & Flynn, 2006)

  9. Resilience of Aboriginal Youth (Lalonde, 2006) • Promotion of culture is related to increased resilience • Aboriginal communities with restored self-government had 85% lower risk of youth suicide than those communities without • In communities that controlled and implemented plans for children in care, youth suicide rate was 25% lower than communities without this control

  10. Purpose of the Present Study • To examine resilience-promoting factors (Masten, 2006) on the child, family, and community level that are associated with positive mental health and educational outcomes in an Aboriginal sample of youths living in out-of-home care.

  11. Participants • 103 First Nations youths • 48 females (M = 13.40 years; SD = 2.05) • 55 males (M = 13.16 years; SD = 1.92) • aged 10-17 years • drawn from year five (2005-2006) of the larger Looking After Children in Ontario (OnLAC) project

  12. Assessment and Action Record (second Canadian adaptation; AAR-C2; Flynn et al., 2006) • Mandated by the Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Services for use every year, with all young people who have been in foster care in Ontario for a year or more • 7 outcome domains: (1) health (2) education (3) identity (4) family and social relationships (5) social presentation (6) emotional and behavioural development (7) self-care skills

  13. Predictor Variables • Age(M = 13.27 years; SD = 1.98) • Gender(48 females; 55 males) • Cumulative risk(M = 6.09; SD = 3.34 ) • First Nations cultural opportunities (M = 1.37; SD = 1.34 ) • Developmental assets(M = 27.00; SD = 7.84)

  14. Outcome Measures • Pro-social • Total Difficulties Score • General Self-Esteem • Education

  15. Pro-social Scale (N = 102) *

  16. Total Difficulties Score (N = 102) * * * *

  17. General Self-Esteem Scale (N = 101) *

  18. Education Scale (N = 101) *

  19. Implications • Developmental assets was consistently the strongest predictor • Consistent with resilience theory • Importance of First Nations cultural opportunities • Incorporation of assets into plan-of-care • Strategies to offset risk factors

  20. Limitations • Small sample size of only First Nations in-care youths • No comparison group

  21. Future Research • Métis and Inuit in-care youths • Methods to increase developmental assets • Ways to offset the consequences of having few assets

  22. References Flynn, R. J., Dudding, P. M., & Barber J. G. (Eds.).(2006a). Promoting resilience in child welfare. Ottawa, ON: University of Ottawa Press. Flynn, R. J., Ghazal, H., & Legault, L. (2006b). Looking After Children: Good parenting, good outcomes, assessment and action records (second Canadian adaptation). Ottawa, ON & London, UK: Centre for Research on Community Services, University of Ottawa & Her Majesty’s Stationary Office. Goodman, R. (1997). The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire: A research note. Journal ofChild Psychology and Psychiatry, 38, 581-586. Gough, P., Trocmé, N., Brown, I., Knoke, I., & Blackstock, C. (2005). Pathways to the overrepresentation of Aboriginal children in care. CECW Information. Retrieved from http://www.cecw-ceph.ca Lalonde, C. E. (2006). Identity formation and cultural resilience in Aboriginal communities. In R. J. Flynn, P. M. Dudding, & J. G. Barber (Eds.), Promoting resilience in child welfare (pp. 52-71). Ottawa, ON: University of Ottawa Press. Legault, L., Anawati, M., & Flynn, R. (2006). Factors favoring psychological resilience among fostered young people. Children and Youth Services Review, 28, 1024-1038. Masten, A. S. (2006). Promoting resilience in development: A general framework for systems of care. In R. J. Flynn, P. M. Dudding, & J. G. Barber (Eds.), Promoting resilience in child welfare (pp. 3-17). Ottawa, ON: University of Ottawa Press. Scales, P. C., Benson, P. L., Leffert, N., & Blyth, D. A. (2000). Contribution of developmental assets to the prediction of thriving among adolescents. Applied Developmental Science, 4, 27-46. Scales, P. C. (1999). Reducing risks and building developmental assets: Essential actions for promoting adolescent health. Journal of School Health, 69, 113-119.

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