TY - JOUR
T1 - Educational outcomes for homeless young adults with and without a history in foster care
AU - Villagrana, Kalah M.
AU - Mody, Elizabeth H.
AU - Lawler, Siobhan M.
AU - Wu, Qi
AU - Ferguson, Kristin M.
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding for this study was provided in Los Angeles by the University of Southern California (USC), School of Social Work Hamovitch Research Center; in Denver by the University of Denver, Graduate School of Social Work; and in Austin by a Faculty Development Grant from the University of Texas at Austin and the Center for Social Work Research. We would like to acknowledge Connie Chung from the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University, Kimberly Biddle and Jina Sang from the USC School of Social Work, Jamie Yoder and Chelsea Komlo from the University of Denver, and Tiffany Ryan, Katherine Montgomery, and Angie Lippman from the University of Texas at Austin for their involvement in the study as research assistants.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2020/9
Y1 - 2020/9
N2 - Homeless young adults (HYA) with and without a history in foster care in the United States experience lower high school graduation rates than young adults in the general population. Few studies examine the risk and resilience factors that promote positive educational outcomes for these subpopulations. This study explores the factors that are associated with positive educational outcomes for HYA with and without a foster care history. This study uses data from a 3-city cross-sectional study of HYA, which included quantitative interviews of HYA between the ages of 18 and 24 (N = 601) in Austin, TX (n = 200), Los Angeles, CA (n = 200), and Denver, CO (n = 201). Positive educational outcomes consisted of HYAs being currently enrolled in or previously attaining a degree from a secondary, postsecondary or technical education program. This study uses two logistic regression models to identify the risk and resilience factors associated with positive educational outcomes for HYA with and without a history in foster care. For HYA with a history in foster care, city was a significant predictor of positive educational outcomes as well as being an older age, formal employment, not having an arrest record, having a lower score of emotional neglect, and having a higher score of physical abuse. For HYA without a history in foster care, significant predictors included not having an arrest record and having a higher score of emotional abuse. Findings highlight the need for an expansion of federal and state postsecondary education financial aid programs for HYA with and without a history in foster care.
AB - Homeless young adults (HYA) with and without a history in foster care in the United States experience lower high school graduation rates than young adults in the general population. Few studies examine the risk and resilience factors that promote positive educational outcomes for these subpopulations. This study explores the factors that are associated with positive educational outcomes for HYA with and without a foster care history. This study uses data from a 3-city cross-sectional study of HYA, which included quantitative interviews of HYA between the ages of 18 and 24 (N = 601) in Austin, TX (n = 200), Los Angeles, CA (n = 200), and Denver, CO (n = 201). Positive educational outcomes consisted of HYAs being currently enrolled in or previously attaining a degree from a secondary, postsecondary or technical education program. This study uses two logistic regression models to identify the risk and resilience factors associated with positive educational outcomes for HYA with and without a history in foster care. For HYA with a history in foster care, city was a significant predictor of positive educational outcomes as well as being an older age, formal employment, not having an arrest record, having a lower score of emotional neglect, and having a higher score of physical abuse. For HYA without a history in foster care, significant predictors included not having an arrest record and having a higher score of emotional abuse. Findings highlight the need for an expansion of federal and state postsecondary education financial aid programs for HYA with and without a history in foster care.
KW - Educational outcomes
KW - Federal financial aid
KW - Foster youth
KW - Homeless young adults
KW - State financial aid
KW - State tuition waiver program
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U2 - 10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105153
DO - 10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105153
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85086732132
SN - 0190-7409
VL - 116
JO - Children and Youth Services Review
JF - Children and Youth Services Review
M1 - 105153
ER -