Charles A. Williams III PhD
Stoneleigh Foundation Fellow
Associate Teaching Professor of
Psychology and Education
Drexel University
Abstract
Foster youth in America disproportionately face the likelihood of
negative outcomes—i.e., incarceration, homelessness and high school dropout. Their
level of social and cognitive functioning is often comprised due to the reasons
for placement, i.e., physical and sexual abuse, neglect and maltreatment. Therefore,
it is imperative that educational professionals - in formal learning
environments, are aware of this reality for foster youth, if they are to
support their overall social and cognitive development. This also calls for an
exploration of evidence-based practices, which can support foster youth in
formal learning environments. One such approach could be to offer social skills
training, while pairing foster youth with mentors. This enhanced mentoring
model could improve overall outcomes, while specifically supporting educational
attainment.
Introduction
For the roughly 500,000 youth in foster care in America, the
likelihood of facing negative outcomes—i.e., incarceration, low college
attendance, poor health, high school dropout, homelessness, economic problems,
and early parenting—is quite high (Berzin, 2010; Gramkowski, Kools, Paul,
Boyer, Monasterio, & Robbins, 2009; Leve, Fisher, & Chamberlain, 2009).
Moreover, “a sizable literature details
the disparities in the child welfare system population compared to the general
population on indicators of health, mental health, and social and economic
well-being” (Leve et al., 2009, p. 1870). Also, Landsverk, Burns, Stambaugh,
and Reutz (2009) state that between one-half and three-fourths of children and
youth in foster care experience behavior and social-emotional problems (given
the traumatic experiences which they face –often repeatedly), which warrant
intervention.
Out of home placement
Several factors may lead to a child being placed in foster care.
Specifically, Leve et al. (2009) report that the most common reasons for child
placement are parental neglect (67%), physical abuse (16%), sexual abuse (9%),
and psychological abuse (7%), with much of this taking place in early
childhood. Often, these early child hood experiences can lead foster care youth
to develop internalizing and externalizing problems (Stein, 2001). Repeatedly experiencing
traumas related to placement into the child welfare system, may lead
specifically to poor academic achievement, anxiety, posttraumatic stress
disorder, and lower future expectations. It can also lead to higher rates of
emotional difficulties and mental illness (Rosario, Salzinger, Feldman, &
Ng-Mak, 2008; Stein, 2001), further explaining the disproportionality of
negative outcomes for foster care youth. This, then, requires an effective
intervention.
Mentoring Foster Youth
According to a report by the Corporation for National and Community
Service titled Mentoring Children
in Foster care: considerations and partnerships for Senior Corp Directors,
foster care youth are in need of mentors or adult role models (Kaplan et al.,
2009). Mentoring is often defined as the contribution of a trusted, non-parental
adult in the life of a child or youth (Gordon, Iwamoto, Ward, Potts, &
Boyd, 2009). “The presence of a positive, trusted, adult role model has been
recognized as a protective factor against violence and other maladaptive
outcomes for youth” (Cheng, Haynie, Brenner, Wright, Chung, &
Simons-Morton, 2008, p. 944). However, traditional mentoring efforts may be
enhanced by adding a social skills training component, thereby, making even
more likely that foster youth will maintain and develop social competence.
Social Skills
Social Skills
The study
of social skills has a rich history reaching back several decades, with early
researchers providing a theoretical template for both the conceptualization and
study of social skills (Quay, 1986). Merrell and Gimpel (1998) refer to two
different ways to conceptualize/define social skills, which concentrate on
three general types of constructs. These
are peer acceptance and behavioral and social validity. Stepehens (1978) created a comprehensive
listing of four broad categories and 30 sub categories of social skills, which
were used to create a social skills training curriculum (these 30 sub
categories have been used by other theorists and educators to address social
skills issues). These four broad categories are:
1. Self-related. Accepting
consequences; ethical behavior; expressing feelings; positive attitude toward
self; responsible behavior; self-care
2. Environmental behaviors. Care for
the environment; dealing with emergencies; lunchroom behavior; movement around
environment
3. Task - related behaviors. Asking and
answering questions; attending behavior; classroom discussion; completing
tasks; following directions; group activities; independent work; on - task
behavior; performing before others; quality of work
4. Interpersonal behaviors. Accepting
authority; coping with conflict; gaining attention; greeting others; helping
others; making conversation; organized play; positive attitude; toward others;
playing informally; property: own and others
Out of these four broad categories, six explicit skills can
be constructed and they are:
1.
Responds
to teasing or name calling by ignoring, changing the subject, or using some
other constructive means
2.
Responds
to physical assault by leaving the situation, calling for help, or using some
other constructive means
3.
Walks
away from peer when angry to avoid hitting
4.
Refuses
the request of another politely
5. Expresses anger with non-aggressive
words rather than physical action or aggressive words.
6. Constructively handles criticism or punishment
perceived as undeserved
School-Based
Social Skills
As has
been mentioned, foster youth struggle with externalizing and internalizing
problems, which can lead to academic challenges. This is the case because
children and youth, who face these types of social and emotional challenges,
find it difficult to connect with peers as well as receive support from
teachers. In fact, research suggests that children who face such challenges
often lack social competence, i.e., they are not socially-skilled. Furthermore, Lane, Gresham and O’Shaughnessy
(2002) point out that children who exhibit disruptive/acting out behaviors in
the classroom (externalizing behaviors) may underachieve academically, given
that their acting out behaviors may cause them “to miss out on essential
instructional activities” (p.321).
O’Shaughnessy (2002) also states that “over time, this lack of
participation in classroom activities results in academic under achievement”
(p.321). Such statements suggest a
relationship between students’ social competence, or the lack thereof, and
their academic performance. It also suggests that foster youth may benefit from
developing social competence through social skills training (and mentoring).
Mentoring
as a tool to improve social skills
Mentoring
has also been found to specifically improve conduct problems and social skills
in school-aged youth (Brown & Enriques, 1997; Cheng et al., 2008; Horn
& Kolbo, 2000; Wyatt, 2009; Zand et al., 2009). This is the case because as
children learn, grow and develop, they seek out regular and consistent, high
quality, positive interactions with significant adults in their lives (Draper,
Siegel, White, Solis, & Mishna, 2009). Through positive social
relationships, with these significant adults, children often learn and model
appropriate social responses to such things as conflict and disappointment; and
they learn such things as how to effectively communicate and express feelings
and emotions (Williams, 2006). Mentoring has not only been shown to address social
skills and behavior problems, but as has been previously mentioned it can also
influence academic achievement (Glomb, Buckley, Minskoff, & Rogers, 2006;
Gresham, 1998; Williams, 2006).
A
Dynamic School-Based Intervention: Mentoring and Social Skills Training
A
dynamic mentoring model-- which blends traditional mentoring and social skills
training, could have an overall positive impact on socially desirable outcomes
for these very vulnerable youth, specifically academic performance. Also, given that most states have compulsory
education laws for children and youth (up until the ages 15-17), schools could
serve as ‘service sites’ for such efforts. Moreover, by using the schools as a
base of sorts for a mentoring program – enhanced with social skills training,
it is likely to support recruitment efforts. This could be the case, given that
the community may be more invested in insuring positive outcomes for their
youth as opposed to say recruiting at-large -- in a city or town.
In
the final analysis, given that students – foster youth notwithstanding, are
required by law to attend school, it would stand that school could serve as
optimal site for interventions aimed at youth. In this instance, a
recommendation is being made that education professionals become more aware of
the fact that foster youth are also their students; and that they should become
more familiar with the challenges they face. This, in turn, will enable
educational professionals to advocate for evidence-based practices to serve
them. The author feels that mentoring- enhanced with social skills training, is
such a practice for which educational professionals should be advocating.
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