Out-of-school care and problem behavior trajectories among low-income adolescents: individual, family, and neighborhood characteristics as added risks.

Using a developmental systems approach, this study considered longitudinal links between adolescents' out-of-school care experiences and behavioral trajectories within a random sample of 819 adolescents ages 10 to 14 years at Wave 1 from low-income, urban families. Multiple aspects of context were considered, including the location, supervision, and structure of adolescents' care arrangements, as well as parenting practices and perceived neighborhood environments. Regression models indicated that out-of-home care, whether supervised or unsupervised, showed modest longitudinal relations with heightened rates of delinquency, drug and alcohol use, and school problems. Out-of-home care was linked with particularly deleterious outcomes for adolescents with high earlier rates of behavior problems, low parental monitoring, and low perceived neighborhood collective efficacy.