The impact of early social factors on trajectories of internalizing behavior problems within maltreated foster care youth

<p>Children who experience maltreatment are at an increased risk for developing internalizing problems. Little is known about long-term symptom trajectories of children placed in foster care following maltreatment. This study used contemporary growth mixture modeling to assess symptom trajectories of 322 youth from the Consortium for Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect Southwest site placed in foster care due to maltreatment. Internalizing symptom trajectories were assessed using Child Behavior Checklist caregiver reports. This study examined the relationship between early social factors (i.e., social support, unpopularity, aggression, cognitive ability, trauma exposure) and trajectories of future internalizing symptoms. Results indicate a three-class model yielded the best fit to the data with trajectories labeled (a) low and consistent, (b) moderate and increasing, and (c) high and consistent. Higher peer unpopularity was the only significant predicter of class membership. Findings suggest class membership is largely unaffected by early social factors.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (MS)

Level thesis:degree_level

Open Access Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Year dc:date.available

2019

Author dc:creator

• Paschall, Ethan Michael

Contributors dc:contributor

• Dean Lauterbach, Ph.D.
• Chong Man Chow, Ph.D.
• Carol Freedman-Doan, Ph.D.

• Foster Care
• Growth Mixture Model
• Internalizing Symptoms
• Latent Class Growth Analysis
• LONGSCAN
• Maltreatment
• Clinical Psychology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://commons.emich.edu/theses/1214

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:commons.emich.edu:theses-2581