Browsing by Author "Peltomaa, Emma"

Objective. The number of children and adolescents placed outside home has almost doubled in last 20 years. It is well known that foster youth, especially boys, have increased risk for violent behavior. Youth with most severe conduct problems are placed in residential schools which are closed institutions where foster care can be organized. Reasons behind the placement decision are usually both child- and parent-related, for instance absences from school, conduct problems, substance use, and maltreatment. Thus, residential school youth have several risk factors which are associated with violence and criminality. The aim of this study was to examine age distribution of violent crimes, how foster care history predicts them, and consider the frequency of violent crimes in adulthood among former residential school youth. Methods. Participants were youth placed in residential school in 1991, 1996, 200, and 2006 (n = 861). Each residential school adolescents had five control youth (n = 3601) matched by background variables. Discrete-time survival analysis was used to examine the age distribution of first violent crime. Logistic and Poisson regressions were used to examine does foster care history predict violent crimes and the number of them. Results and discussion. Residential school youth committed more crimes than control subjects and males more than females. The probability of getting a conviction is highest during adolescence and early twenties among residential school subjects. After that the risk begins to decline reaching the same level with control subjects around age 30. Younger age at the beginning of the residential school placement and shorter duration of that placement were associated with higher risk of getting a conviction. Furthermore, older age at the beginning of the first placement, younger age at the beginning of residential school placement, and shorter duration of that placement were associated with higher risk of having more convictions. The results verify that residential school youth are the most challenging group in foster care and address the need of better interventions for youth at risk for severe problem behavior. When identifying risk development early enough, support of youth's development is possible before the situation escalates. For instance, intervening in problems in child's living circumstances and behavior both earlier and more easily improve the prediction of adulthood.