تعهد پرستار به پرورش کودکان: نقش رفتار کودک

This study aimed to examine the association between child behavior problems and caregiver commitment to their child in a group of young foster children.

Whether or not a caregiver becomes committed to a foster child has important implications for the child. Most importantly, caregiver commitment has been found to predict placement stability for foster parent-child dyads (Dozier & Lindhiem, 2006). This finding is important because placement stability has consistently been found to predict a host of positive outcomes for foster children (e.g., Aldgate, Colton, Ghate, & Heath, 1992; Fisher, Burraston, & Pears, 2005; Newton, Litrownik, & Landsverk, 2000). For example, foster children in stable placements are likely to have higher academic achievement (Aldgate et al., 1992) and fewer behavior problems (Newton et al., 2000) than foster children who experience multiple placements. Therefore, understanding the determinants and correlates of caregiver commitment might have important implications for the lives of foster children. In this study, we were interested in whether child characteristics are associated with caregiver commitment. Specifically, we examined whether parents’ reports of children's behaviors predict caregivers’ commitment.