Emerging Adulthood and Leaving Foster Care: Settings Associated with Mental Health

Abstract

The present study examined the role of contextual support on mental health during the transition to adulthood within a vulnerable group, adolescents leaving foster care because of their age. Participants were 265 19- to 23-year-olds who retrospectively reported on 3 main contexts of emerging adulthood: housing security, educational achievement, and employment attainment in the first 2 years after leaving foster care. Mental health measured self-reported emotional distress, substance abuse, and deviancy at the time of interview. Growth Mixture Modeling empirically identified 3 latent trajectory classes. Stable-Engaged (41%) experienced secure housing and increasing connections to education and employment over time. Stable-Disengaged (30%) maintained housing but reported decreasing rates of education and small increases in employment. Instable-Disengaged (29%) experienced chronic housing instability, declined connection to education, and failed to attain employment. Stable-Engaged and Stable-Disengaged classes reported better mental health compared to the Instable-Disengaged class, indicating the importance of housing in transitioning to adulthood.