Boys In Care Research Articles

Citizenship education as an educational outcome for young people in care: A phenomenological account

This qualitative study presents a retrospective analysis of how a cohort of young men, who as boys were assigned to residential care in Malta, perceive the citizenship education that they received while ‘in care’ as having empowered them – as boys, adolescents, and eventually as young adults. Rather than focusing on citizenship education that is derived from formal schooling, this study is focused on analysing the meaning that the participants attributed to experiences of daily living at the care home alongside the cooperative activities that were organized for them by the staff so as to enable them to learn about one another, share responsibilities, and develop feelings of group-solidarity among themselves. The study thereby explores whether the participants see themselves as having an increased repertoire of social competencies, including cooperative decision-making and the ability to forge effective interpersonal relationships, as a result of their being in care. Using an ecosystemic approach, it looks into how other related agents of socialization including their schooling also had a bearing on their lives. The study uses interviews and focus groups to give the particpants a ‘voice’ in describing reality as they perceive and understand it. It shows that, to provide meaningful citizenship education to vulnerable, at-risk children and young people, it is important that they are provided with skills and opportunities to share personal stories and events with one another, and to support each other’s growth. Since boys in care can be extremely conscious that they are in care, this implies that effort needs to be made to help them foster greater links with the outside community, particularly with their family, friends and other adults. It is therefore recommended that young people in care are given opportunities to develop greater self-confidence as this would allow them to promote greater cohesion among themselves and empower them to be more agentic and proactive in wider society.

‘Bad Boys’’ Bodies: The Embodiment of Troubled Lives. Body Image and Disordered Eating Among Adolescents in Residential Childcare Institutions

Children residing in care (hereafter referred to as childcare residents) are a risk-group for emotional disturbances and behaviour problems. Based on existing knowledge of risk factors one would also expect this population to be a high-risk group for eating disorders and related body-image disorders. The objective of this study was to describe pathological eating behaviour, dysfunctional body focusing and psychological symptoms in a sample of childcare residents compared with a non-clinical sample. Sixty-one childcare residents (aged 14-21 years, mean 16.2) and a non-clinical comparison group ( n= 196) completed the Eating Disorders Inventory - Child version (EDI-C). The childcare residents also completed an extended questionnaire, including questions regarding the use of anabolic-androgenic steroids. Our main findings were high scores on EDI-C symptom scales for boys in the childcare resident group; few differences between girls in the two samples; and a high frequency of having used anabolic-androgenic steroids among boys in care. Body-image problems among boys have hitherto been given little attention. The results call for increased efforts in describing and detecting pathological cognitions, emotions and behaviour concerning the body in males in general and, more specifically, in high-risk male groups, such as childcare residents.

DELINQUENCY AND BEING TAKEN INTO CARE: A THREE-GENERATIONAL STUDY

Therapeutic experience has suggested that there may be an association between parental loss and delinquency. Losses experienced by boys in care and their families were compared with losses experienced by control boys and their families. Boys in care had experienced significantly more losses through the death, divorce or separation of their parents than had control boys. The mothers of boys in care had also experienced significantly more losses when they were minors than any other group, including their sons. Maternal losses are significantly associated with boys being taken into care following legal proceedings.