Abstract
PurposeStudying mental wellbeing requires the use of reliable, valid, and practical assessment tools, such as the Short version of the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (SWEMWBS). Research on the mental wellbeing of children in care is sparse. The current study aims to: (1) examine the unidimensionality of SWEMWBS; (2) assess measurement invariance of SWEMWBS across children and young people in care compared to their peers not in care; and (3) investigate the latent factor mean differences between care status groups.MethodsWe used data from the 2017 School Health Research Network Student Health and Wellbeing (SHW) survey, completed by 103,971 students in years 7 to 11 from 193 secondary schools in Wales. The final data include a total of 2,795 participants (46% boys), which includes all children in care and a sub-sample of children not in care who completed the SWEMWBS scale fully and answered questions about their living situation.ResultsConfirmatory factor analysis supported the unidimensionality of SWEMWBS. The SWEMWBS is invariant across groups of young people in foster, residential and kinship care compared to children and young people not in care at configural, metric and scalar levels. Findings from latent mean comparisons showed that young people in care reported lower mental wellbeing than their peers, with those in residential care reporting the lowest scores.ConclusionsFindings suggest that SWEMWBS is a valid scale for measuring differences in mental wellbeing for young people in care similar to the population.
Highlights
Mental wellbeing has emerged as an important construct in population health, described as a fundamental human right and essential for a sustainable and functional society [1].Mental wellbeing has been defined as ‘a state of wellbeing in which every individual realises his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community’ [2], encompassing concepts such as resilience,1 3 Vol.:(0123456789)Quality of Life Research self-efficacy and optimism [3]
In the United Kingdom (UK), local authority care includes the provision of accommodation for children and young people who are unable to live with their parents
The aims of the present study were to: (1) Confirm the unidimensionality of SWEMWBS; (2) assess measure invariance of SWEMWBS across children and young people in care compared to their peers not in care; and (3) undertake comparison of mean differences in mental wellbeing across those groups
Summary
Mental wellbeing has emerged as an important construct in population health, described as a fundamental human right and essential for a sustainable and functional society [1].Mental wellbeing has been defined as ‘a state of wellbeing in which every individual realises his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community’ [2], encompassing concepts such as resilience,1 3 Vol.:(0123456789)Quality of Life Research self-efficacy and optimism [3]. While most young people in care in the UK report their experiences to be good [8], and report satisfaction with their life [9], there is clear evidence that those who have experienced care do not fare as well as the general population in relation to their physical health, cognitive and language skills [10], and mental health [11,12,13], which in turn can impact their development and journey to adulthood [14,15,16]. Studies have begun to investigate subjective wellbeing of children and young people in foster care in the UK [9], and foster and residential care internationally [17,18,19]. These studies have consistently identified lower levels of subjective wellbeing of those in care compared to their peers not in care, with those in residential care demonstrating the lowest levels of wellbeing
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