Prevalence of depressive symptoms and associated factors in older adult public housing residents

The purpose of this pilot study was to identify the prevalence of and risk factors associated with depressive symptoms among older adult residents of a public housing apartment. Self-reported depressive symptoms were measured with the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) 8. A self-report questionnaire was used to collect data on risk factors of sociodemographic information, cardiovascular health history, and history of depression. Fifty-eight of 171 residents responded, and 31% of residents met the CES-D 8 criterion for depression (total score ≥7). Sequential multiple regression models identified age, loss of loved ones in the past year, and financial worries as significant predictors of CES-D 8 scores. These study results have implications for future studies of depressive symptoms in older adults, suggesting that grief and financial assistance programs may help reduce risks associated with depressive symptoms among community-dwelling older adults living in public housing.

How different are their experiences and outcomes? Comparing aged out and other child welfare involved youth

This paper adds to the growing body of research examining the experiences of youth aging out of the child welfare system. Through a comparison of youth aging out with two other groups of child welfare-involved youth-those whose families received child welfare services but were never placed out of home and those who were in out-of-home placement but did not age out-it presents a profile of their care careers and other system involvement (e.g., mental health, justice system). Analyses indicate that young people aging out of care have experienced significant amounts of time in out-of-home placement, a great deal of placement instability, and high levels of other system involvement. In general, their involvement is more extensive than that of the two comparison groups. However, the justice system involvement of youth who experienced out-of-home placement but did not age out is just as high as that of youth who have aged out. This finding highlights the importance of devoting resources not only to youth aging out of care but also to similarly-aged young people with prior child welfare involvement.

Patterns of mental health, substance abuse, and justice system involvement among youth aging out of child welfare

Although research on youth aging out of the child welfare system has increased, there has been limited focus on how their experiences vary. In particular, there is a need to examine patterns in the involvement of these youth in other systems, which indicate constellations of challenges facing these young people as they transition out of care and into adulthood. Using administrative data from a large birth cohort of individuals born between 1985 and 1994 whose families have been involved in the child welfare system, this article presents an analysis of the mental health, substance abuse, juvenile justice, and criminal justice system involvement of youth who have aged out of child welfare. Using a 2-step cluster analysis, we identify 5 subgroups of youth. Two of these groups, accounting for almost half of the youth, have little other system involvement and have child welfare care careers of relative stability. The other 3 groups, consisting of just over half of the youth, have much more extensive other system involvement, as well as care careers marked by instability and a greater proportion of time spent in congregate care.