Developmental Trajectories of Offending for Male Adolescents Leaving Foster Care

Abstract

The difficulties that adolescents encounter as they age out of the foster care system are numerous and fairly well documented. Such difficulties include poor health, lack of affordable housing, low-wage employment, limited educational opportunities, and unreliable or nonexistent familial support. These difficulties often increase the likelihood of a wide variety of negative outcomes. One such outcome is involvement with juvenile justice and adult corrections. Adolescents aging out of foster care are at an increased risk of engaging in delinquency and crime. Unfortunately, little is known about the developmental trajectories of such juvenile and adult offending for the foster care population. The present study addresses this gap in the literature. Using a semiparametric group-based modeling approach, the authors identify three unique offending trajectories among 294 male adolescents leaving a large midwestern foster care agency: nonoffenders, early onset desisters, and chronic offenders. Using multinomial logistic regression, they then identify a variety of risk and protective factors associated with each development trajectory. Placement stability and school enrollment emerge as two of the most important predictors.

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