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Parental Stress and Children Adjustment in Kinship Foster Families

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2013

Jesús M. Jiménez ,
Estefanía Mata ,
Esperanza León  and
Alicia Muñoz
Jesús M. Jiménez*
Affiliation:
Universidad de Sevilla (Spain)
Estefanía Mata
Affiliation:
Universidad de Sevilla (Spain)
Esperanza León
Affiliation:
Universidad de Sevilla (Spain)
Alicia Muñoz
Affiliation:
Universidad de Huelva (Spain)
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Jesús M. Jiménez. Departamento de Psicología Evolutiva y de la Educación, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de Sevilla. C/ Camilo José Cela, s/n. 41018 Sevilla (Spain). E-mail: espeleonm@gmail.com
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Abstract

This work focuses on a multidimensional exploration of the stress experienced by kinship foster carers. This study is the first one conducted on Spanish sample, with 116 kinship foster families and foster children, between the ages of 4 and 11 years.

In general, data indicate that the carer’s parental stress scores are within the normative range. The existing heterogeneity among these families is also reported, highlighting a carers group with high stress levels. Parental stress correlated with children variables (initial adversity index, adaptation, evolution and behavioral adjustment); caregiver and family variables (main carer’s health, no correlation was found with social support network or with economic needs) and child-carer relationship variables (acceptance-rejection, relationship with the main caregiver and with other family members). Finally, the predictive model performed shows that the more behavioral and emotional problems foster children exhibit, the more stress the carers experience. This is also true the worse the relationships with other relatives are and the poorer the health of the main carer is.

Keywords

kinship foster careparental stresschildren adjustmentfamily relationships
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 16 , 2013 , E39
Copyright
Copyright © Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid 2013 

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Footnotes

This article is part of the research project “Risk and protection in kinship care: life paths and personal, familial and social adjustment “ funded by the National R & D Plan, 2007 (reference SEJ2007-65300). Our thanks to the Child Protection Service of Seville and the participating families for their collaboration in this study.

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