A COMPARATIVE-STUDY OF GREEK CHILDREN IN LONG-TERM RESIDENTIAL GROUP CARE AND IN 2-PARENT FAMILIES - II - POSSIBLE MEDIATING MECHANISMS

Forty-one children reared in group care were compared with 41 age- and sex-matched family care children according to interview, questionnair e, and observation measures of behavioural and scholastic functioning. Individual differences in outcome within the group care sample were e xamined in relation to a range of possible risk/protective indicators. The strongest predictor of outcome proved to be the reason for admiss ion into residential care, with the implication that the outcome was b est for children who had experienced stable, harmonious family relatio nships in their early years. The risk and protective effects applied t o both the children's behaviour and scholastic attainments but, althou gh the two were intercorrelated, neither accounted for the other. All subgroups of children in institutional care failed to show a lack of c onfiding peer relationships, with the pattern of findings suggesting t hat this stemmed from some aspect of experiences (possibly involving p eer relationships) during residential care, as well as from discontinu ity in caregiving during the early years.