Sexual Risks Are Increased for Women Who Were Ever in Foster or Kinship Care

Abstract

Women who spent any time living in foster homes or with relatives other than their par? ents during childhood have an elevated risk of engaging in high-risk sexual behaviors, ac? cording to an analysis of data from the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG).1 They are nearly a year younger than other women when they first become pregnant, and they have elevated odds of having more than three sexual partners over their lifetime. Those who lived with relatives also begin having in? tercourse at a younger age than women who always lived with at least one biological par? ent. More than 500,000 children are placed in living arrangements outside their parents' home each year; the analysts note, however, that the extent to which this experience influences their sexual behavior has received lit? tle attention. The nationally representative NSFG data permitted researchers to examine patterns of sexual behavior among three groups of women: 89 who had ever lived in foster care, 513 who had ever lived in kinship care (that is, with relatives other than their parents) and 9,018 who had always lived with at least one parent (the comparison group). Women were excluded if they had never lived with their bi? ological parents, they were foreign-born or they had lived in a group home at any point in their childhood.