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Cited by 138Child Welfare and AdoptionChild Abuse and TraumaChild and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development

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Are children and adolescents in foster care at greater risk of mental health problems than their counterparts? A meta-analysis

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Dubois-Comtois, Karine, Bussières, Eve-Line, Cyr, Chantal, St-Onge, Janie, Baudry, Claire, Milot, Tristan, Labbé, Annie-Pier·2021·Children and Youth Services Review
DOI 10.1016/j.childyouth.2021.106100
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Abstract

This meta-analysis aims at comparing mental health problems of children in foster care to those living with their biological parents while taking in consideration different protective and risk factors. Across 41 studies with a total of 72 independent effect sizes, a significant but small effect size was found between foster care placement and psychopathology (d = 0.19). Children in foster care showed higher levels of psychopathology compared to those from community samples or matched/at-risk samples. They were as likely to show mental health problems as maltreated children living with their biological parents or children from clinical samples. Results showed that foster children’s mental health problems also varied as a function of type of placement and study methodological characteristics. Being placed in kinship care, longer stay in the same foster home and fewer placement disruptions, all acted as protective factors limiting mental health problems of children in foster care.

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  • Care-experienced children and young people have a higher rate of diagnosable mental health problems compared to non-care-experienced samples.

    “They have a higher rate of diagnosable mental health problems when compared to non-care-experienced samples (Dubois-Comtois et al., 2021; Engler et al., 2022; Seker et al., 2021)”

    From Effectiveness of Mental Health and Wellbeing Interventions for Children and Young People in Foster, Kinship, and Residential Care: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (2024) · cites this paper as Dubois-Comtois et al., 2021

    Section 3.3.1 reports more psychological problems among children in foster care than among community and matched/at-risk samples. However, the meta-analysis includes symptoms as well as disorders (Section 2.2), so its finding does not establish a higher rate of diagnosable conditions. It also found no difference from maltreated children living with their biological parents or from clinical samples (Section 3.3.1). Page numbers were unavailable in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.88)

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Metadata

Authors
Dubois-Comtois, K., Bussières, E.-L., Cyr, C., St-Onge, J., Baudry, C., Milot, T., & Labbé, A.-P.
Affiliations
  • Université du Québec à Montréal (CA)
  • Graduate Institute of Development Studies (CH)
  • Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (CA)
ORCID
Venue
Children and Youth Services Review
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2021-08
Volume
127
Pages
106100
ISSN
0190-7409 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.childyouth.2021.106100
OpenAlex
W3170293463
Cited by
138
References
5
Citations by year
2026: 35 · 2025: 29 · 2024: 42 · 2023: 20 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 3
FWCI
3.20
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Children and Youth Services Review (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • Le dépôt institutionnel (Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières) (submittedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
Funders
Fonds de Recherche du Québec - Santé
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Child Welfare and Adoption
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
Keywords
foster care, child mental health, psychopathology, kinship care, placement stability, placement disruption, protective factors, risk factors, child abuse

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