Stability and change in adolescents’ well-being: The role of relationships with caregivers in residential care

Mónica Costa, Semira Tagliabue, Paula Mena Matos and Catarina Pinheiro Mota

Children and Youth Services Review, 2020, vol. 119, issue C

Abstract: Adolescents‘ well-being is an important marker of psychosocial adjustment and quality of life. However, few studies have been conducted about adolescents‘ well-being in residential care and its stability during time. Moreover, according to attachment theory, the quality of the relationship between adolescents and caregivers constitutes a relevant factor for well-being, but few studies investigated its effect longitudinally. The present study examined the development of adolescents’ well-being across three assessment waves, during one year. It aimed to test the moderating effect of adolescents’ perception of their relationship with caregivers (characterized by emotional closeness and relational tension) on well-being. Participants were 306 adolescents, 12–18 years old, living in residential care in Portugal. The results showed that emotional closeness as perceived by the adolescents moderated the development of their well-being in the first six months, but no significant effects were found 1 year later. The results pointed out the role of the relationship with caregivers on positive psychological functioning of adolescents living in residential care.

Keywords: Well-being; Quality of the relationship; Residential care; Longitudinal; Caregivers; Adolescents (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740920319903
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:119:y:2020:i:c:s0190740920319903

DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105567

Access Statistics for this article

Children and Youth Services Review is currently edited by Duncan Lindsey

More articles in Children and Youth Services Review from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().