Measuring Resiliency and Its Predictors in Recently Discharged Foster Youth

The ability to make positive adaptations to life’s circumstances despite exposure to severe adversity, and a multitude of risks has been described as resiliency (Luthar et al., Child Dev 71:543–562, 2000 ). Former foster youth have faced much adversity which places them at risk in their attempts to make a successful transition to adulthood. These risks require that former foster youth demonstrate much resiliency. The research reported upon in this paper had two purposes. The first purpose was to identify psychosocial factors that contributed to resiliency among former foster youth. The other purpose was to suggest an approach to the measurement of resiliency with former foster youth. The development of a measure for resiliency is described, as well as its initial test with 97 former foster youth 6 months after discharge. Positively associated with resilience were: the availability of social support, having independent living skills competence, being older at discharge, and maintaining contact with former foster parents. Negatively associated with resilience was living with family after discharge and having behavioral problems. Implications of these findings for social workers are discussed.