School Adjustment of Children in Residential Care: a Multi-Source Analysis

Abstract

School adjustment is one the greatest challenges in residential child care programs. This study has two aims: to analyze school adjustment compared to a normative population, and to carry out a multi-source analysis (child, classmates, and teacher) of this adjustment. A total of 50 classrooms containing 60 children from residential care units were studied. The “Método de asignación de atributos perceptivos” (Allocation of perceptive attributes; Díaz-Aguado, 2006), the “Test Autoevaluativo Multifactorial de Adaptación Infantil” (TAMAI [Multifactor Self-assessment Test of Child Adjustment]; Hernández, 1996) and the “Protocolo de valoración para el profesorado (Evaluation Protocol for Teachers; Fernández del Valle, 1998) were applied. The main results indicate that, compared with their classmates, children in residential care are perceived as more controversial and less integrated at school, although no differences were observed in problems of isolation. The multi-source analysis shows that there is agreement among the different sources when the externalized and visible aspects are evaluated. These results are discussed in connection with the practices that are being developed in residential child care programs.