Effect of Organizational Climate on Youth Outcomes in Residential Treatment

Abstract

This study examined the association between organizational climate and changes in internalizing and externalizing behavior for youth in residential treatment centers (RTCs). The sample included 407 youth and 349 front-line residential treatment staff from 17 RTCs in Illinois. Youth behavior was measured using the Child Functional Assessment Rating Scale. Organizational climate was measured via the Areas of Worklife Survey. Using hierarchical linear modeling, results demonstrated that a higher perception of person-job match on community among front-line staff was associated with more improvement on youth externalizing behaviors. Counter-intuitively, higher person-job match on fairness and workload were each associated with less improvement on internalizing and externalizing behavior. These results offer several potential implications for residential treatment leadership, front line workers, policymakers, youth, and researchers.