Reasons, willingness, and intention to be a foster family: A community-sample study

Eunice Magalhães, Patrício Costa, Vânia S. Pinto, João Graça, Joana Baptista, Sofia Ferreira, Emma Castro, Catarina Anjos and Lucilina Gouveia

Children and Youth Services Review, 2022, vol. 142, issue C

Abstract: Research into the reasons that could lead community samples to become foster families is sparse, as most studies focus on the reasons identified by licensed or prospective foster families. The present study aims: (1) to assess the validity and reliability of the Reasons for Fostering Inventory adapted for a community sample (Portuguese version); and (2) to test the role of family factors and the different reasons for fostering as potential predictors of willingness and behavioral intention to foster. The reliability and validity of the inventory were assessed using a convenience sample of Portuguese adults (n = 441), 84 % female, aged 26–74. A three-factorial structure (self-oriented reasons, child-centered reasons, and family-related reasons) composed of 22 items was identified. The factorial structure was tested with a holdout randomization method for cross-validation. All factors were reliable, with internal consistency levels ranging from 0.85 and 0.88. Being female, younger, and scoring lower on family-related reasons and greater on child-centered reasons showed positive associations with both willingness and intention to foster. Lower scores on self-oriented reasons were associated with higher willingness to foster; while having parental experience, lower education, and greater income were associated with a higher intention to foster. This study contributes with additional psychometric evidence for this scale for use with community samples. It also provides new insight into how individual resources may be linked with willingness and intention to foster in a community sample.

Keywords: Reasons for Fostering Inventory; Foster care; Foster family; Community sample; Psychometrics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740922002845
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:142:y:2022:i:c:s0190740922002845

DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2022.106648

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 ().