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Article Excerpt
Converging evidence indicates that maltreated foster children have more behavior problems and poorer peer relations than nonmaltreated, biologically reared youths. However, it is unclear whether deficits in peer relations operate independently or as a result of increased behavior problems and whether outcomes for foster children differ by sex. To address these questions, multi-informant methods were used to assess peer relations at school entry among maltreated foster children and a comparison sample of low-income, nonmaltreated, biologically reared children (N = 121). Controlling for caregiver-reported behavior problems prior to school entry, results from a multigroup structural equation modeling analysis suggested significant relationships between foster care status and poor peer relations at school entry and between foster care status and level of behavior problems prior to school entry for girls only. These Sex x Foster Care Status interactions indicate that the unique needs of each sex should be addressed when intervening with maltreated foster children.
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When children enter formal educational settings, they are expected to possess competencies that make it possible for them to respond to the demands of the school environment. Children who lack basic social skills and fail to develop successful peer relations during school entry are at greater risk for conduct problems, peer rejection, and academic failure throughout childhood and adolescence (Brendgen, Vitaro, Bukowski, Doyle, & Markiewicz, 2001; Dishion, 1990; Snyder et al., 2005). Foster children are at particularly high risk for difficulties in this area. There are currently more than 500,000 foster children in the United States, with more than 230,000 children entering foster care yearly (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2006), Beginning in early childhood, foster children show deficits on indicators of behavioral and mental health (Pilowsky, 1995). Early placement in foster care--prior to age 5--appears to be particularly detrimental to later outcomes (Keiley, Howe, Dodge, Bates, & Pettit, 2001). Once foster children enter school, they show more behavior problems than nonmaltreated, biologically reared children and fare worse than their peers on indicators of school performance, including achievement, peer competence, high school completion, and special education service needs (Wodarski, Kurtz, Gaudin, & Howing, 1990). Although extensive behavioral and educational disparities among foster children have been well documented, few studies have examined whether behavior problems that emerge during the preschool period lead to subsequent poor outcomes or whether there are unique effects on peer relations over and above those associated with behavior problems.
Two lines of evidence are relevant to understanding the disparities in outcomes for foster children: studies of maltreated youth (who may or may not be in foster care) and studies of children in foster care (who may or may not have experienced maltreatment). Studies in both areas generally reveal very high rates of behavioral maladjustment. For example, Clausen, Landsverk, Ganger, Chadwick, and Litrownik (1998) found that 50% of a representative sample of foster children had Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach, 1991) scores at or above the borderline clinical range. This rate is 2.5 times higher than the rate expected in a community sample. Similarly, in a longitudinal study of three groups of children (foster children, maltreated children who remained in the home, and nonmaltreated, biologically reared community children), Lawrence, Carlson, and Egeland (2006) found that foster children had more behavioral problems than the community comparison children. They also found that teachers rated foster children and maltreated children who remained in the home as having significantly more externalizing problems than the community children. (The foster care and maltreated groups did not differ significantly from each other.) Other studies have shown that maltreated youths exhibit higher risk for aggression, conduct disorders, and delinquency (Lansford et al., 2002; Lynch & Cicchetti, 1998; Stouthamer-Loeber, Loeber, Homish, & Wei, 200l) and that the negative effects of mal treatment interact with family characteristics such as parental decision making and early life stress (Lansford et al., 2006).
Studies examining peer relations in maltreated children and foster children have found a consistent association between maltreatment/foster care and poor peer relations (Bolger, Patterson, & Kupersmidt, 1998; Fantuzzo, Weiss, Atkins, Meyers, & Noone, 1998; Manly, Kim, Rogosch, & Cicchetti, 2001; Parker & Herrera, 1996; Rogosch & Cicchetti, 1994). The specific domains of peer deficits for maltreated children and foster children that have been investigated include having fewer friends, having significantly younger friends (Salzinger, Feldman, Hammer, & Rosario, 1993), having more conflictual and less intimate peer relations (Parker & Herrera, 1996), having fewer positive and more negative peer nominations (Salzinger et al., 1993), and exhibiting disruptive social behavioral patterns that affect friendship formation (Cicchetti & Lynch, 1995). Using observational methodology, Parker and Herrera found that maltreated children displayed less intimacy and more conflict when interacting with their best friends compared to nonmaltreated children and their best friends.
One issue that has not been fully developed in prior research is whether having poor peer relations is simply a byproduct of a foster child's behavior problems, as studies of biologically reared youth would suggest (Dishion, Eddy, Haas, Li, & Spracklen, 1997). This is perhaps the most parsimonious explanation of the poor peer relations in foster children. Alternatively, some aspects of foster children's observed difficulty with peer relationships might not be associated with behavior problems. The first aim of this study, therefore, was to examine whether being in foster care was associated with poor peer relations at school entry, controlling for behavior problems. It is important from the outset to differentiate an association between foster care and poor peer relations from a causal relationship. We did not intend to examine whether placement in foster care was the root cause of poor peer relations. Rather, we sought to begin a process of explicating foster children's general psychosocial difficulties with greater specificity than has been attempted previously.
Gender-Sensitive Processes in the Development of Peer Relations
The second aim of this study was to examine whether the association between foster care and poor peer relations differed by sex. There is evidence that some developmental processes have a greater influence on peer relations for girls than for boys during the developmental period marking the transition to school. At school entry, affiliating with classmates who exhibit externalizing problems has been shown to lead to more problematic outcomes for girls than for boys (Hanish, Martin, Fabes, Leonard, & Herzog, 2005). Moreover, exhibiting antisocial behavior has been shown to lead to increased peer victimization for gifts but not for boys (Snyder et al., 2003). Furthermore, social status at school entry appears to mediate the association between early childhood characteristics and later conduct problems for boys; for girls, however, the effects of social status appear additive (Snyder, Prichard, Schrepferman, Patrick, & Stoolmiller, 2004).
Studies of children's gender role development offer one explanation for why some developmental processes might have a differential impact on peer relations by sex. By age 3, boys and girls show preferences for same-sex playmates and often engage in gender-specific play activities with their peers (Jacklin & Maccoby, 1978; Maccoby, 1990). For example, boys tend to play in larger peer groups and to form friendships that are based on...
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