The mental health and socialization of siblings in care

The paper describes sibling-related investigations conducted within the first stage of a prospective study of the mental health of 347 children (aged 4-11) in foster and kinship care in New South Wales, Australia (the Children in Care Study). Mental health was measured with the Child Behavior Checklist and with a carer-report instrument designed to measure psychopathology specifically observed among children in care (the Assessment Checklist for Children). A large number of study factors were measured, including several confounders of sibling-related data. The analyses include: the distribution and stability of sibling placements; mental health and socialization estimates stratified by sibling placement status; and a within-pairs comparison of oldest-younger sibling dyads in shared placements. Girls separated from all of their siblings were reported to have significantly poorer mental health and socialization than girls residing with at least one sibling. Various hypotheses accounting for this gender-specific finding are proposed, with a view to being tested in the prospective stage of the study.