In plain language
Around the world, more children are being removed from unsafe homes than there are foster-carers to look after them. Recruitment campaigns need to know who to target, yet most profiles of foster-carers rely only on demographics of people who have already signed up. This study asked a different question: what psychological characteristics mark out people in the general community who are interested in, and intend to, become foster-carers?
A large, representative sample of 1,088 adults (544 men and 544 women, average age about 41) completed an anonymous survey measuring demographics, personal resources such as social support, personal characteristics such as hope and empathy, and their foster-care interest, intentions, and information seeking. People who sought information about foster-caring and expressed interest or intention were those with high social support from friends — more so than support from family or a significant other — and those high in perspective-taking empathy, trait hope, and a positive problem-solving orientation. Notably, when hope was statistically controlled, problem solving and social support no longer predicted interest.
Younger people and those in part- or full-time work expressed more interest than older or retired people. The authors discuss how these findings can sharpen foster-care marketing and recruitment campaigns — for example, by appealing to hopeful, empathic people with strong friendship networks — and inform how agencies support carers.
Key findings
- People who sought information about and expressed interest or intention towards foster-caring had high social support from friends and were high in perspective-taking empathy, trait hope, and positive problem-solving orientation.
- Support from friends was more reliably linked to foster-care intentions than support from family or a significant other.
- When trait hope was covaried in regression analyses, problem solving and social support were no longer significant predictors, suggesting hope is central.
- Younger age groups showed significantly higher interest in foster-caring than older groups, and retired people were less likely to express interest than those in part- or full-time employment.
- The study used a large, representative general population sample (544 men, 544 women; mean age 40.8 years) with comprehensive measures of demographics, resources, and personal characteristics.
- Findings offer evidence-based targeting criteria for foster-care recruitment campaigns and agency practices.
How to cite
APA
Ciarrochi, J., Randle, M., Miller, L., & Dolnicar, S. (2012). Hope for the future: Identifying the individual difference characteristics of people who are interested in and intend to foster-care. British Journal of Social Work, 42(1), 7–25. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcr052
BibTeX
@article{ciarrochi2012hope,
title = {Hope for the Future: Identifying the Individual Difference Characteristics of People Who Are Interested In and Intend To Foster-Care},
author = {Ciarrochi, Joseph and Randle, Melanie and Miller, Leonie and Dolnicar, Sara},
journal = {British Journal of Social Work},
volume = {42},
number = {1},
pages = {7--25},
year = {2012},
doi = {10.1093/bjsw/bcr052}
}
Related work
- All publications by Joseph Ciarrochi (searchable, with free PDFs)
- Process-Based Therapy & Idionomic Analysis
Author: Joseph Ciarrochi (ORCID 0000-0003-0471-8100). Free copy hosted with permission for scholarly use. Please cite the published version via the DOI above.