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A Comparative Study of Greek Children in Long-term Residential Group Care and in Two-parent Families: II. Possible Mediating Mechanisms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 1998

Panyiota Vorria ,
Michael Rutter ,
Andrew Pickles ,
Stephen Wolkind  and
Angela Hobsbaum
Panyiota Vorria
Affiliation:
University of Ioannina, Greece
Michael Rutter
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, London, U.K.
Andrew Pickles
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, London, U.K.
Stephen Wolkind
Affiliation:
Maudsley Hospital, London, U.K.
Angela Hobsbaum
Affiliation:
Institute of Education, London, U.K.
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Abstract

Forty-one children reared in group care were compared with 41 age- and sex-matched family care children according to interview, questionnaire, and observation measures of behavioural and scholastic functioning. Individual differences in outcome within the group care sample were examined in relation to a range of possible risk/protective indicators. The strongest predictor of outcome proved to be the reason for admission into residential care, with the implication that the outcome was best for children who had experienced stable, harmonious family relationships in their early years. The risk and protective effects applied to both the children's behaviour and scholastic attainments but, although the two were intercorrelated, neither accounted for the other. All subgroups of children in institutional care failed to show a lack of confiding peer relationships, with the pattern of findings suggesting that this stemmed from some aspect of experiences (possibly involving peer relationships) during residential care, as well as from discontinuity in caregiving during the early years.

Keywords

Behaviour problemsemotional disorderschool childreninstitutional rearingschool performancepeer relationshipsfamily relationships
Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines , Volume 39 , Issue 2 , February 1998 , pp. 237 - 245
Copyright
© 1998 Association for Child Psychology and Psychiatry

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