Familism, substance abuse, and sexual risk among foster care alumni

•Familism failed to predict less substance abuse and sexual risk.•Familism was associated with quality of relationship with family members.•Family relationship quality was associated with less substance abuse and sexual risk.

Prior research has suggested that youth growing up in the foster care system are among the United States' most vulnerable populations. Other research has documented the association between positive family relationships and less frequency of negative behaviors in foster care populations. We, therefore, sought to examine how dimensions of familism predict substance abuse and sexual risk in a sample of (N = 100) foster care alumni. Although greater dimensions of familism did not predict less substance abuse and sexual risk, participants' quality of relationship with individual family members was associated with less substance abuse and sexual risk.