IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/cysrev/v46y2014icp146-154.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Application of the life course perspective in child welfare research

Author

Listed:
  • White, Kevin R.
  • Wu, Qi

Abstract

Research related to child welfare often suggests complicated relationships between child maltreatment, social disadvantage, program and policy effects, individual development, and population conditions that interact and change over time. New theories and conceptual models that account for this complexity are needed. The main point of this article is that the life course perspective is a useful paradigm for developing and organizing theories, concepts, and hypotheses in child welfare research. The life course perspective also helps researchers tackle methodological challenges common to longitudinal child welfare studies, such as confounding due to age, policy, and cohort effects. This article introduces key principles of the life course perspective, discusses concepts relevant to child welfare using concrete examples from prior research, highlights methodological challenges, and suggests implications for future studies.

Suggested Citation

  • White, Kevin R. & Wu, Qi, 2014. "Application of the life course perspective in child welfare research," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 146-154.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:46:y:2014:i:c:p:146-154
    DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2014.08.018
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740914003168
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.childyouth.2014.08.018?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Smith, Susan Livingston & Howard, Jeanne A. & Monroe, Alan D., 2000. "Issues underlying behavior problems in at-risk adopted children," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(7), pages 539-562, July.
    2. Kennedy, Angie C. & Agbényiga, DeBrenna LaFa & Kasiborski, Natalie & Gladden, Jessica, 2010. "Risk chains over the life course among homeless urban adolescent mothers: Altering their trajectories through formal support," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(12), pages 1740-1749, December.
    3. Doyle, Joseph J., 2013. "Causal effects of foster care: An instrumental-variables approach," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(7), pages 1143-1151.
    4. Crum, Wes, 2010. "Foster parent parenting characteristics that lead to increased placement stability or disruption," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 185-190, February.
    5. Dhami, Mandeep K. & Mandel, David R. & Sothmann, Katy, 2007. "An evaluation of post-adoption services," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 162-179, February.
    6. Roberson, Kendra C., 2006. "Attachment and caregiving behavioral systems in intercountry adoption: A literature review," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(7), pages 727-740, July.
    7. Stone, Susan, 2007. "Child maltreatment, out-of-home placement and academic vulnerability: A fifteen-year review of evidence and future directions," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 139-161, February.
    8. Avery, Rosemary J., 2010. "An examination of theory and promising practice for achieving permanency for teens before they age out of foster care," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 399-408, March.
    9. Joseph J. Doyle Jr., 2007. "Child Protection and Child Outcomes: Measuring the Effects of Foster Care," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(5), pages 1583-1610, December.
    10. Johnson, Daniel & Fein, Edith, 1991. "The concept of attachment: Applications to adoption," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(5-6), pages 397-412.
    11. Courtney, Mark E. & Hook, Jennifer L., 2012. "Evaluation of the impact of enhanced parental legal representation on the timing of permanency outcomes for children in foster care," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(7), pages 1337-1343.
    12. Ryan, Joseph P. & Testa, Mark F., 2005. "Child maltreatment and juvenile delinquency: Investigating the role of placement and placement instability," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 227-249, March.
    13. Waldfogel, Jane, 2000. "Child welfare research: How adequate are the data?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(9-10), pages 705-741.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Goodwin, Bonni & Madden, Elissa, 2020. "Factors associated with adoption breakdown following implementation of the Fostering Connections Act: A systematic review," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    2. Cesar, Gabriel T & Decker, Scott H., 2020. "“CPS Sucks, but… I think I’m better off in the system:” Family, social support, & arts-based mentorship in child protective services," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    3. Xu, Yanfeng & Bright, Charlotte Lyn, 2018. "Children's mental health and its predictors in kinship and non-kinship foster care: A systematic review," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 243-262.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yoon, Miyoung & Bender, Anna E. & Park, Jiho, 2018. "The association between out-of-home placement and offending behavior among maltreated youth: A systematic review," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 263-281.
    2. Sheerin, Kaitlin M. & Modrowski, Crosby A. & Williamson, Shannon & Kemp, Kathleen A., 2022. "The effect of sexual concerns on placement changes and school transfers for youth in the child welfare system," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    3. Anthony Bald & Eric Chyn & Justine Hastings & Margarita Machelett, 2022. "The Causal Impact of Removing Children from Abusive and Neglectful Homes," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 130(7), pages 1919-1962.
    4. Mersky, Joshua P. & Janczewski, Colleen, 2013. "Adult well-being of foster care alumni: Comparisons to other child welfare recipients and a non-child welfare sample in a high-risk, urban setting," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 367-376.
    5. Fantuzzo, John W. & Perlman, Staci M. & Dobbins, Erica K., 2011. "Types and timing of child maltreatment and early school success: A population-based investigation," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(8), pages 1404-1411, August.
    6. Lee, Sei-Young & Villagrana, Margarita, 2015. "Differences in risk and protective factors between crossover and non-crossover youth in juvenile justice," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 18-27.
    7. Huang, Hui & Ryan, Joseph P., 2014. "The location of placement and juvenile delinquency: Do neighborhoods matter in child welfare?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 33-45.
    8. Goyette, Martin & Blanchet, Alexandre & Esposito, Tonino & Delaye, Ashleigh, 2021. "The role of placement instability on employment and educational outcomes among adolescents leaving care," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    9. Blakey, Joan M. & Leathers, Sonya J. & Lawler, Michelle & Washington, Tyreasa & Natschke, Chiralaine & Strand, Tonya & Walton, Quenette, 2012. "A review of how states are addressing placement stability," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 369-378.
    10. Kahn, Nicholas E. & Hansen, Mary Eschelbach, 2017. "Measuring racial disparities in foster care placement: A case study of Texas," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 213-226.
    11. Koh, Eun & Rolock, Nancy & Cross, Theodore P. & Eblen-Manning, Jennifer, 2014. "What explains instability in foster care? Comparison of a matched sample of children with stable and unstable placements," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 36-45.
    12. Konijn, Carolien & Admiraal, Sabine & Baart, Josefiene & van Rooij, Floor & Stams, Geert-Jan & Colonnesi, Cristina & Lindauer, Ramón & Assink, Mark, 2019. "Foster care placement instability: A meta-analytic review," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 483-499.
    13. Dhami, Mandeep K. & Mandel, David R. & Sothmann, Katy, 2007. "An evaluation of post-adoption services," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 162-179, February.
    14. E. Jason Baron & Ezra G. Goldstein & Joseph Ryan, 2023. "The Push for Racial Equity in Child Welfare: Can Blind Removals Reduce Disproportionality?," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(2), pages 456-487, March.
    15. Cutuli, J.J. & Goerge, Robert M. & Coulton, Claudia & Schretzman, Maryanne & Crampton, David & Charvat, Benjamin J. & Lalich, Nina & Raithel, JessicaA. & Gacitua, Cristobal & Lee, Eun Lye, 2016. "From foster care to juvenile justice: Exploring characteristics of youth in three cities," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 84-94.
    16. Bastianoni, Chiara & Charpentier Mora, Simone & De Gregorio, Eugenio & Bizzi, Fabiola, 2020. "Exploring adopted adolescents’ inner world through the lens of qualitative methodology," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    17. Mersky, Joshua P. & Topitzes, James, 2010. "Comparing early adult outcomes of maltreated and non-maltreated children: A prospective longitudinal investigation," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(8), pages 1086-1096, August.
    18. Liao, Minli, 2016. "Factors affecting post-permanency adjustment for children in adoption or guardianship placements: An ecological systems analysis," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 131-143.
    19. Anthony Bald & Joseph J. Doyle Jr. & Max Gross & Brian A. Jacob, 2022. "Economics of Foster Care," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 36(2), pages 223-246, Spring.
    20. Malvaso, Catia G & Delfabbro, Paul H & Day, Andrew, 2017. "Child maltreatment and criminal convictions in youth: The role of gender, ethnicity and placement experiences in an Australian population," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 57-65.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:46:y:2014:i:c:p:146-154. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/childyouth .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.