Profiles of adults most likely to become a foster family: A latent profile analysis

IF 3.4 2区心理学 Q1 FAMILY STUDIES

Child Abuse & Neglect Pub Date : 2025-05-09 DOI:10.1016/j.chiabu.2025.107486

Eunice Magalhães , Patrício Costa , Leonor d'Eça , Mariana Matoso , Vânia S. Pinto , Sofia Ferreira , Joana Baptista , João Graça

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background

The shortage of foster families to protect maltreated children requires urgent and effective solutions supported by theoretical and evidence-based frameworks. However, most research has focused only on the perspective of foster parents and has not been theoretically grounded. To the best of our knowledge, profiles of prospective foster families with representative samples from the general population have not yet been identified.

Objective

The current study aimed to identify the profile(s) of Portuguese adults most likely to become a foster family through latent profile analysis, exploring socio-demographic variables and factors related to capability, opportunity, and motivation (COM-B model) as predictors of profile membership.

Participants and methods

A representative sample of 1082 adults (Portugal) completed a survey comprising several self-report measures aligned with the theoretical dimensions of the COM-B model.

Results

The results revealed three profiles: Ready Responders (highest scores on awareness, willingness, and intention), Willing Waverers (high scores on willingness and moderate scores on awareness and intention), and Reluctant Bystanders (lowest scores on all indicators). Having children, contact with the child protection system, conscientiousness, social well-being, parental self-efficacy, family communication, and family-related, self-oriented, and child-centered reasons were significant predictors of profile membership.

Conclusions

These findings highlight the value of theory-informed profiling to inform targeted recruitment strategies for prospective foster families.

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最有可能成为寄养家庭的成年人的档案：一个潜在的档案分析

保护受虐待儿童的寄养家庭短缺，需要在理论和循证框架的支持下，采取紧急有效的解决办法。然而，大多数研究只关注养父母的角度，没有理论依据。据我们所知，从一般人群中选取代表性样本的潜在寄养家庭的概况尚未确定。目的本研究旨在通过潜在特征分析确定最有可能成为寄养家庭的葡萄牙成年人的特征，探索与能力、机会和动机相关的社会人口变量和因素（COM-B模型）作为特征成员的预测因子。参与者和方法1082名成年人（葡萄牙）的代表性样本完成了一项调查，该调查包括与COM-B模型的理论维度相一致的几项自我报告措施。结果结果揭示了三种概况：准备响应者（意识、意愿和意图得分最高），自愿动摇者（意愿得分高，意识和意图得分中等）和不情愿的旁观者（所有指标得分最低）。有孩子、接触儿童保护系统、尽责性、社会幸福感、父母自我效能感、家庭沟通、家庭相关、自我导向和以儿童为中心的原因是档案成员的显著预测因子。结论：这些发现突出了基于理论的分析在为潜在寄养家庭提供有针对性的招聘策略方面的价值。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Child Abuse & Neglect Multiple-

CiteScore

7.40

自引率

10.40%

发文量

397

期刊介绍： Official Publication of the International Society for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect. Child Abuse & Neglect The International Journal, provides an international, multidisciplinary forum on all aspects of child abuse and neglect, with special emphasis on prevention and treatment; the scope extends further to all those aspects of life which either favor or hinder child development. While contributions will primarily be from the fields of psychology, psychiatry, social work, medicine, nursing, law enforcement, legislature, education, and anthropology, the Journal encourages the concerned lay individual and child-oriented advocate organizations to contribute.