Future expectations of adolescents in Residential Care: The role of self-perceptions

Background: This study aims to analyze the role of some personal (gender, age, self-perceptions) and contextual variables (living in residential care [RC] vs family) related to developing positive future expectations (FE) among adolescents. Method: Participants were 758 children aged between 12 and 18 years (46 were in RC, the remaining 712 were their classmates). Self-esteem, life satisfaction, and FE were evaluated. Results: Most adolescents perceived their future positively. Girls and older children generally had more negative ratings. Children in RC had positive mean levels of self-esteem, life satisfaction, and FE, although significantly lower than those of their peers. Regression analysis showed that age, RC, self-esteem, and life satisfaction explain approximately 30% of global FE. The structural equation model indicated a direct relationship between self-perceptions (self-esteem and life satisfaction) and FE, whereas RC had an inverse relationship with self-perceptions. These relationships accounted for 59.8% of the total variance of FE. Conclusions: This study identified individual and contextual factors involved in the development of positive FE during adolescence, focusing mainly on children placed in RC. The implications of these results are discussed for the design of interventions with this group.