Children mental health follow- up in youth communities of the SOS-Children’s Village Linda Rajhvajn Bulat & Vanja Branica Department of social work, Faculty of law Zagreb, Croatia

INTRODUCTION Life of a child in public care is burdened with: oa history of traumatic and stress events in the primary family otemporary or permanent loss of one’s parents othe experience of additional trauma of being isolated from familiar surrounding oadjustment to new living conditions. Everyday life in public care (residential or foster) requires additional adjustment to new and unknown social situations. Mental health of children is influenced by the social environment and subject to different stresses that are more intensive in children who are growing up in some form of public care.

Public care for children in Croatia The social care of children deprived of parental care is organized through two types of placement: Residential placement (group homes) – 16 state child group homes or in family homes funded by NGO-s (SOS – Children’s Village, Nuevo Futuro) Foster placement into families (mostly continental, rural parts of Croatia)

METHODOLOGY This research is part of a bigger 5 year longitudinal study “Possibilities to improve public child care” The aim of the study was to develop empirically based indicators for improvement of public child care and development of criteria for evaluation of interventions. The goal of the conducted study was to determine psychosocial needs of children in public care.

The goal and research problems The aim of this research is to examine mental health of children in SOS – Children's Villages in period of 5 years, specifically we are trying to examine: 1.How stabile is children’s mental health 2.How reliable and concordant are children’s and child care workers’ appraisals of children’s mental health

The sample and procedure 57 children and youth examinees from the youth communities of the SOS – Children's Village Croatia At the first measurement (2003) – 13.2 years old in average (10-19 years, SD=2.07) At the follow-up study (2008) – 18.3 years old in average (16-24 years, SD=1.96) 40.4% of boys (23) and 59.6% girls (34) Questionnaire was administrated by children and child care workers

Instruments The Youth Self-Report (Achenbach, 1991) The Child Behavior Check-List (Achenbach, 1991) Withdrawal Somatic complaints Anxiety and depression Social problems Thought problems Attention problems Delinquent behaviors Aggressive behaviors

Instruments The Youth Self-Report (Achenbach, 1991) The Child Behavior Check-List (Achenbach, 1991) Questionnaire of Daily Stress (Ajduković and Sladović, 1999) The Scale of Perceived Social Support (Živčić-Bećirević, 1996)

RESULTS VARIABLEMEASUREMENTMSDtp Withdrawal 1st 3,173,59 2,194,039 2nd 1,701,72 Somatic complaints Anxiety and depression Social problems 1st 3,703,21 2,364,027 2nd 2,172,53 Thought problems 1st 1,522,54 2,950,007 2nd,26,86 Attention problems 1st 7,095,03 2,590,017 2nd 4,484,25 Delinquent behaviors Aggressive behaviors 1st 13,7010,53 3,066,006 2nd 7,357,74 Table 1. Boys’ mental health in 5 year period – appraisal

RESULTS VARIABLEMEASUREMENTMSDtp Withdrawal Somatic complaints Anxiety and depression Social problems Thought problems Attention problems Delinquent behaviors 1st 2,592,03 -3,175,003 2nd 4,503,32 Aggressive behaviors 1st 8,355,07 -2,039,050 2nd 10,414,96 Table 2. Girls’ mental health in 5 year period – self appraisal

RESULTS VARIABLEMEASUREMENTMSDtp Withdrawal Somatic complaints 1st,881,53 -2,205,035 2nd 1,682,06 Anxiety and depression Social problems Thought problems Attention problems Delinquent behaviors Aggressive behaviors Table 3. Girls’ mental health in 5 year period – appraisal

RESULTS VARIABLE rMEASUREMENTMSDtp Withdrawal,360** Somatic complaints,023 Anxiety and depression,401** Social problems,272* Thought problems,319* Attention problems,362** Delinquent behaviors,178 1st 2,742,18 -3,760,000 2nd 4,423,00 Aggressive behaviors,216 1st 8,284,93 -2,010,049 2nd 9,975,17 Table 4. Children’s mental health in 5 year period – self appraisal

VARIABLE rMEASUREMENTMSDtp Withdrawal,563** Somatic complaints,358** 1st,721,32 -2,056,044 2nd 1,211,79 Anxiety and depression,351** Social problems,573** 1st 3,392,82 2,475,016 2nd 2,562,61 Thought problems,485** 1st,951,88 2,491,016 2nd,40,90 Attention problems,491** Delinquent behaviors,234 Aggressive behaviors,438** 1st 9,959,24 2,268,027 2nd 7,326,82 RESULTS Table 5. Children’s mental health in 5 year period – appraisal

VARIABLE rMEASUREMENTMSDtp Withdrawal,563** Somatic complaints,358** 1st,721,32 -2,056,044 2nd 1,211,79 Anxiety and depression,351** Social problems,573** 1st 3,392,82 2,475,016 2nd 2,562,61 Thought problems,485** 1st,951,88 2,491,016 2nd,40,90 Attention problems,491** Delinquent behaviors,234 Aggressive behaviors,438** 1st 9,959,24 2,268,027 2nd 7,326,82 RESULTS Table 5. Children’s mental health in 5 year period – appraisal VARIABLEMEASUREMENTMSDt Social support 1st31,672,16 23,924** 2nd19,742,61 Everyday stress 1st59,3310,61 -2,280* 2nd63,548,94

RESULTS VARIABLE1st measurement 2nd measurement Withdrawal,066,285* Somatic complaints,147,350** Anxiety and depression,178,353** Social problems,258,305* Thought problems,156,016 Attention problems,095,107 Delinquent behaviors,269*,224 Aggressive behaviors,172,367** Table 6. Correlations between appraisals and self-appraisals of children’s mental health

CONCLUSION The results have shown that the test-retest correlations on most sub-scales of children’s mental health are statistically relevant, but this relevance ranges from low to middle Child care workers evaluate that mental health of boys at the retest point has improved In self-evaluation girls give evidence of their increasing externalization of problems

CONCLUSION The appraisals of children and child care workers are not so concordant it is necessarily to take information from different sources Maybe the largest restriction of this study is high level of drop out (more than 50%) It is question whether it is appropriate to use same questionnaires on children and youth/young adults

Thank you for your attention!