Childhood socioeconomic status, school failure, and drug abuse - a Swedish national cohort study
- Författare
- Gauffin, K., Vinnerljung, B., Fridell, M., Hesse, M., Hjern, A.
- Titel
- Childhood socioeconomic status, school failure, and drug abuse - a Swedish national cohort study
- Utgivningsår
- 2013
- Tidskrift
- Addiction
- Volym
- 108
- Häfte
- 3
- Sidor
- 1441-1449
- Sammanfattning
We examined prevalence of parental deaths among former out-of-home care youths at age 18 and 25, and odds of parental loss compared with peers from similar socio-economic childhood backgrounds. The study utilized Swedish national register data for 12 entire birth cohorts (1972–1983), 35 550 former out-of-home care youths and 1 138 726 cohort peers without out-of-home care experiences. Logistic regression models were used to compute odds ratios for parental loss through death.
It was especially common among former residents of long-term out-of-home care to be motherless (11%), fatherless (11–13%) or orphaned (3–4%) at age 18, compared with non-foster care peers (1%, 3% and 0.03%). Twenty-six per cent had lost at least one parent (4% among non-foster care peers). At age 25, the figures had increased considerably; 36% had lost at least one parent, compared with 7% in the majority population. Adjusted odds ratios for parental loss among long-term care youth were strikingly high, particularly for having a deceased mother. In short-term and intermediate care, most youths with deceased parents had suffered parental loss before entering foster care. For youth from long-term care, parental death after start of placement was most common.