Resilience of youth in transition from out-of-home care to adulthood

Youth in transition from out-of-home care to adulthood are a vulnerable sub-population of the foster care system. In addition to the trauma of maltreatment, and challenges associated with out-of-home care, these youth face the premature and abrupt responsibility of self-sufficiency as they leave care for independent living. The purpose of this study was to identify personal and interpersonal factors that contribute to resilience of young adults who left out-of-home care of a large urban child welfare system during a one year period. Sixty percent of the eligible young adults participated in a computer-assisted self-administered interview about their self-sufficiency including: educational attainment, employment, housing, parenthood, health risk behavior, criminal activity, and perceived levels of social support, spiritual support, community support, and global life stress. This study explored the relationship between support systems, life stress, and the young adults' resilience reflecting key outcomes. The study's findings indicated that females, older youth, and youth with lower perceived life stress had higher resilience scores. Implications for child welfare practice, policy, theory, and research advance knowledge about young adults in transition from out-of-home care. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.