The effect of sexual concerns on placement changes and school transfers for youth in the child welfare system

•Sexual distress is linked with placement changes for child welfare-involved youths.•Sexual preoccupation is related to lower odds of placement changes/school transfers.•Trauma-related sexual concerns are key for understanding placement and school changes. Youths in the child welfare system experience high rates of placement changes and school transfers; therefore, prior research focused on variables that may be linked with such disruptions. Indeed, researchers have established that mental health symptoms (e.g., PTSD symptoms) are linked with placement disruptions. However, an important aspect of mental health for youth in the child welfare system has largely been ignored: sexual concerns (e.g., distress, preoccupation). Thus, the present study evaluated whether higher levels of sexual preoccupation and distress among a sample of child welfare-involved youths (N = 124) in a northeastern state predicted placement changes and school transfers above and beyond variables previously linked with these disruptions. Our hypotheses were partially supported such that higher levels of sexual distress were linked with increased odds of experiencing a placement change (OE = 2.60; p