Subjective well-being of young people in therapeutic residential care from a gender perspective

Abstract

A growing body of research focus on subjective well-being (SWB) in adolescence; however there are few studies focus specifically on the residential care population and even fewer on differences by type of residential facility separately for males and females. This study aims to analyze SWB in therapeutic residential care (a residential program created to address youths with severe emotional and behavioral problems) in relation to young people in other kinds of residential child care (RCC). 567 adolescents aged 14-18 from Therapeutic Residential Care (TRC) (n=256) and RCC (n=311) participated in the study. Results showed few significant differences concerning the residential program factor. Satisfaction with their own family was greater for young people in TRC and satisfaction, both with the groups they belong to and with their own residential facility, rated higher among the RCC group. Regarding differences by sex, females reported less SWB in all the domains including overall life satisfaction. The effect of the interaction between sex and type of residential program showed that females in TRC reported SWB, particularly low. The main implications for research and intervention will be discussed.